Dead and Alive
by sakshi.chopra
Summary: Post TB season 6, Sookie has the life she always thought was best for herself. However, what we think we want and what we actually want can be completely different from what we need. Will she ever find courage to rise above the ordinary and find something extraordinary? Is there a cure for apathy? Do we control our fate or does life just dish out stuff at random? K but M later.
1. Chapter 1 One year Later

**After the TB season six finale, I seriously need to vent out and put things to right for myself. I know there are a lot of fans out there who were disappointed by everything we were subjected to by TB writers. Here is my humble effort to put some common sense in things. Maybe I'll take this as a tough writing assignment of making sense out of everything we have been given this season. I am still a newbie here so share your valuable reviews and suggestions :)**

**I am also continuing my work on my other story Angels of the Night and Day and will post soon.**

..

..

"We have been going round and round about this Alcide. I really don't have the energy to explain right now. I am tired. Can we do this tomorrow?"

Alcide huffs and grimaces. "See there, right there is the problem. You are so tired with waiting on strangers that you have no time for me. They get your attention all day and I get an 'I am tired' every day!"

I sigh.

The dinner shift at Bellefluer's had been very busy tonight because of a meeting in the town hall running late. The town people had gotten together to discuss the ever present infected vampire menace on Bon Temps. The discussion had remained relevant for about the first ten minutes. Then as everybody put on their thinking caps and started on the suggestions, the good meeting quickly went south. The people suggested everything from mass exodus to full time curfew. There were some who wanted an all-out 'war on the zombies', a la Resident Evil. But there were no bad ass ninja warriors in our midst so the war mongers were quickly talked down by the people in favor of running and hiding, a la Walking Dead. It just went round and round in circles, till only the most reckless and the most ignorant denizens were the only ones speaking aloud and cheering for each other and demanding beers for the cheering. Do I even need to mention which side Jason took?

The vampires wisely refrained from making comments, ordered to silence on strategy by their new area sheriff, some Thalia person. Jessica told me about that order. I don't even know if she could tell me that!

Anyways, so at the end of a totally wasted three hour long town hall meeting, people just trooped right into the nearest eatery and drowned their nerves in grease and beer. I have been an on and off part time waitress at the revamped bar and grill Bellefluer's. Tonight I was just swamped with orders, bussing and waitressing. My feet felt like lead and my arms are ready to fall off. My head is practically buzzing in the aftermath of the thought bombs I have dodged all evening. All I wanted right now was to soak in a warm bath and then go to sleep.

But life is not easy. And expecting simple pleasures from life is fast becoming old news. In the past one year after the whole Benlow disaster, all I needed was a rest full life full of love. All I got was unrest and lust with a whole lot of overbearing love.

I sighed again at that thought.

"Alcide there was a big Town Hall meeting earlier today. It ran late and…"

"Don't change the topic." Alcide interjected. "We are talking about us, not silly small town politics. You don't know anything about that. I expected you to be home earlier. I had dinner reservations at that new place in Shreveport. You could at least have replied to my messages. You didn't reply on purpose didn't you?"

_This is getting on my nerves now. Why does he have to say stuff like that and why do I feel guilty? What do I say to that? Ok, stick to the texting issue Sookie._

"Alcide! You know we don't check messages while working. I didn't know you texted. I have already cut down working full time to part time. I just work five days a week. I did that because you didn't want me working on weekends. So now I am home on weekends and where are you? Having some pack thing guys' outing, fishing or watching games!"

_There take that for guilt! One point for team Sookie!_

Alcide got on his feet and let out an angry growl. "Do you mean to say that I can't even spend some time with friends or watch a game now because we are living together? You go off to your bar every day and I don't question what you do. I even shifted to Bon Temps for you because you couldn't leave your precious town. I joined that god awful Shreveport pack to keep you safe from all the vampire shit you have brought on yourself and you begrudge me a few moments of peace?"

_WHAT? Now he did it!_

"WHAT? Oh no Alcide, you didn't just say that!" I am not sure but I think I am shouting now.

"Really? You think the vamps just leave you alone out of the goodness of their dead hearts?"

I think I stomped my foot along with the shouting now. This is getting too close to where I don't want to go.

"I can take care of myself. I have been doing it forever now. SO don't you put that pack shit over my head. Joining them was your decision. I can't even stand those girls making all sorts of eyes at you! I bet you enjoy that now don't you?"

Alcide growled in response and his eyes changed to yellow.

_Great! Is he planning on turning on me now? In the living room?_

He loomed menacingly. I suddenly felt dry in my throat and had to gulp, but I did not step back from my stance. For once, my sore limbs would not hold me back and let Alcide bully me.

"You have no idea what happens in the pack and what I go through trying to keep my position there."

There goes the guilt thing again.

He has been doing this since quite some time now. I am usually worn out and don't want to argue and then he thinks he has gotten away with calling me wrong on all accounts. This will have to stop. I can't let him do that all the time. Maybe if I got a few days off, maybe if I could actually rest, perhaps I'll be able to fight for myself like I should…

"Alcide listen to me. I do not hold the pack against you. I know you don't like them a lot but you do what you need to do. Everyone has to do what they need to do. As for me, I can't sit at home and twiddle my thumbs while I wait for you. I need to be self-sufficient. I need to make a living. Why don't you cut me some slack here?"

Alcide backed down and averted his eyes. After giving me the silent treatment for a whole minute, he lets out a breath and ramps down on the tone a bit.

"You are tired and I am riled up. Doesn't make a good pair." He walked towards the door and grabbed his jacket from where it was hanging in the hall. "I need to get some air. Don't wait up." And he just walks out.

I take a deep breath and attempt to calm down. It is good that he walked out before I could stir up another storm. Maybe we can talk like adults when we are both calm enough.

Ok then, time for my bath. I slowly walk towards my new refurbished bathroom. I look at the large tub with all the beautiful fittings and smile in relief. At least Alcide is good at stuff like that. God bless him for the bathroom!

I fill up the bath and pour a few scented oils and soaps. I will not be fooling with candles tonight.

I just need to sit here and forget about my day.

I just need to forget the way Bill was looking at me in the town hall. I need to forget how completely wrapped up Jason looked with Violet. He didn't even bother to have a conversation with me. That felt bad. I sat with Tara and Jessica in the meeting because Alcide had some work stuff and everybody else was projecting too loudly. At least having two vampires on both sides gave me some respite. I thought being together with my friends would be a good change but something felt off. Frankly I could have died of boredom if I didn't have all those stray thoughts attacking me all the time. I mean Tara and Jess are fun but they were unusually quite in the meeting. Jessica did drop in a few hints about how Bill was suffering but what the hell. I am sure even if everything was good and shiny in the world, Bill Compton would find something to whine about. So I tuned it out.

I just need to forget that I hoped Alcide would massage my feet with his strong able hands tonight. He used to do that earlier. He was never a cuddler but he could work magic with his hands. He hasn't done that in months now. The only time we are touching intimately like a couple is the time we have sex. It is not bad either. Alcide is good with it. But then it is over and he sleeps off. I do not know what I expect. Maybe I want him to ask about my day or hold me for a while when I am tired. But then would I want all the accompanying advice he will have about my work? No, I guess not. So maybe it is better this way.

_Yeah Whatever! _

I prod my inner conscience and it doesn't respond with some smart ass remark. It has been this way since quite some time now. Once upon a time, Sookie Stackhouse used to be in control of her life and in touch with her inner voice. She was righteous and could stand up to her ideals and put people in their place. She could hold her own with big bad vampires like Er…

_Oh no don't go there!_

I shut my eyes tightly and force the thought right out of my mind. I have been doing that a lot too. With that thought though, the other monologue goes silent too and I am just left with the sound of softly lapping water around me. Fine by me if you ask. Cowardly but fine for now! I take a deep breath again and lean my head on the head rest. I just need to rest it out and think when I am ready for it. I don't even know exactly why I am tired of everything these days.

It might be a late reaction to everything going on in my life since gran died.

_Yeah maybe!_

I close my eyes and try to feel gran. I try that a lot. But it seems to me that gran is somewhere hidden from me, right beside my conscience. I'll go find her and I'll go find my conscience when I am ready. For now I just sit back and let my mind wind down from the evening.

..

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**So what do you think?**


	2. Chapter 2 Edicts

Bill Compton sat brooding in his empty mansion. His progeny Jessica had decided to spend the night with Tara. Right now, he had the company of the house and a bland bag of donor blood. Live donors were easy to come by but he wasn't about to invite anyone for a session tonight. Not when Sookie Stackhouse was so fresh in his mind's eye. _If only that mongrel was not with her…_

He could have taken her by force. He could have taken her far from this dump town. He could have turned her and kept her tied to him. He could have just drained her and washed her out of his system, because Sookie Stackhouse had become a disease to his system and he could not get her out of his head. Even if he was not the all-powerful Billith, he could have still easily out maneuvered that lowly were and no one in the Shreveport wolf pack would stand against it. Everything within his grasp, but for that fucking edict. Why had the sheriff issued the edict to all vampires in her area to stay away from Sookie Stackhouse? Thalia didn't know Sookie. Thalia had never met Sookie. In fact Thalia did not give a shit for any human, part fairy or no. Why the edict then?

_And what the hell is going on in New Orleans?_

He knew that after the authority debacle and then the run in with the human governments, there had been a number of internal management changes in the vampire world. His claim to the seat of king had been overruled six months ago when the new authority and seat of power was established. He was lucky that as yet, there were no summons for a trial on him, considering he had killed a whole lot of chancellors in the previous Vampire Authority. They were probably still setting up rules and ownerships. The supernatural Council of elders was now creating everything from ground up in the state. A complete new structure, unknown to the humans, which was all powerful and all encompassing. They had even hurried the publishing of his book on vampires, to give the humans a sense of security. Were the humans really secure in the new regime? He didn't know…

All vampires knew that a new authority was in place. They just got messages on new rules and edicts and no one knew the location of their headquarters for now. The sheriffs did not expose themselves to the human population of their areas and the vampires were sworn to secrecy on their meeting locations. All vampires in each area needed to check in with their sheriffs once a week. All complaints and requests were to be put in writing and dropped off with the sheriff's assistants, from where the cases would be segregated and then dates for case hearings would be communicated. The casual days of fun and disregard of authority for vampires was pretty much over.

The new regime was being extra cautious after last year's events.

Then there was the issue of half infected rogue vampires. They had ended up this way after the supe council used its best witches and demons to work on some powerful magic to outdo the bad effects of the tainted True Blood. The magic had saved the vampires but they did not return to being their previous selves. They now walked in a daze, always hungry for blood and showed little signs of intelligence to follow orders. The rogues were being rounded up discreetly and something was being done on them. Again, not many knew what exactly the new authority was doing with these infected wanderers.

Bill chaffed at his lack of know how in the new power structure. He had been in on the inner works with Sophie Ann, with Nan, and then he had been a law unto himself after he eviscerated the vampire authority and claimed to be God. Now he had again been relegated to being the young powerless vampire, left to his own devices, without a clue on what was going to happen.

After the heady feeling Lilith's blood gave him, this new state was crippling at best. Bill felt weak, vulnerable and constantly at risk. Each night he rose with dread in his heart that he would be summoned by the new powers for blatantly breaking every vampire rule he could last year. The misery of his situation was that he didn't even know what powers they were. He didn't know who he was pitted against. He just knew that Thalia was the new sheriff of area 5 and there was a new power structure in New Orleans.

Orders and edicts came in bundles every night from this new regime. Every vampire was being kept on a very short leash and all of them were being counted, catalogued and accounted for. A whole lot of data was being collected on all other supernatural creatures too, with or without their cooperation or sometimes even without their knowledge. Pacts were being signed left and right. There was also some talk about an arrangement with the human government. The details were being kept under the wraps and something would be signed next week in some big ceremony in New Orleans. Every supernatural creature in the whole state of Louisiana and all important government officials from the neighboring states had been invited for the event. It was said that there would be a number of important announcements regarding the changed power structure. Jessica had mentioned that Sookie's grandfather Niall Brigant had been graciously invited with his family, to represent the fae of the state. He was also supposed to take Sookie as part of his kin with the spark. Andie's fairy daughter would join them too.

_There goes keeping Sookie's nature a secret in the supe world! If only I had a say in that! _

No one knew who stood in power over Louisiana, yet. Maybe they would announce it in the upcoming event.

Whoever it was, was already controlling a lot concerning the supes of the area.

Whoever it was, really knew the inner workings and dealings of the state like the back of their hands and had squashed resistance before it even took shape.

Whoever it was, was covering all bases anyone could think about.

Try as he may, Bill could not fathom how the new powers knew so much about the state already. They even knew about Niall and Sookie and that Jason did not have the spark even if he was Niall's kin.

_How?_

_I need to find out who rules now. There is no reason to waste away in this town. The only reason I was here in the first place was Sookie and she is miles away from me now. I cannot even come within a hundred yards of her if she does not want my protection. Fucking edicts!_

_.._

_.._

**_I know this is a short one, but I needed to fill in a few holes of the TB story and get things rolling for the story._**


	3. Chapter 3 Girls night out

Sookie awoke with a groan. Her phone was ringing somewhere. She tried to look around her but her eyes stung from the bright light in the bedroom and she immediately closed her eyes again. The phone stopped ringing. She could tell by the amount of light in the room that it was well around noon.

_Wow! I didn't realize I slept off the whole morning! Why didn't Alcide wake me up for breakfast?_

She looked around on the other side of the bed and it appeared to have not been slept in.

_Did he sleep in the other room? Did he even come back last night? I am sure he spent the night with those skanky she-wolves. If he were home he would have woken me up to cook breakfast. Sometimes it seems that's all I am worth! Welcome to the grumbling couples club Sookie! Right now you sound like a fifty year old married woman!_

Thus grumbling she made her way to the bathroom and splashed her face with cold water.

_Ahhh that feels good…Thank God for small pleasures!_

She brushed her teeth and then decided to take a long, unhurried shower. Halfway through the shower, she felt fully awake and her mind woke up to the world. It was then that she thought about checking her phone if Alcide had left a message about his whereabouts. What if it was Alcide on the phone when I was sleeping? How many times could he have called when I was sleeping?

_Groan! He is going to go on forever for ignoring his calls again! I better go check out to spare me another argument. There goes my unhurried shower… _

Sookie turned off the water and quickly dried herself. She wrapped her hair in a towel and wrapped another one around her body. She found her phone in the entangled covers and checked the screen. Five missed calls, four from Alcide and one from Tara, five voice mails, again four from Alcide and one from Tara and ten text messages, all from Alcide…

_Groan number two! That's bad! Can't shit wait for the evening to happen?_

She decided to listen to Tara's voicemail first.

_Hey girl whats up! Listen we need some serious female time. We haven't had that in forever. So here's the plan…Jess, Laf and me are going shopping tonight for that New Orleans shindig next week and girl you need to come with us. Ain't no excuse for a girl to miss shopping! Call me…_

Sookie smiled. This was just the kind of outing she needed.

She went through the rest of the messages. As expected, Alcide's messages weren't anything new. Going on business with pack master, getting late, still running late, will be there early in the morning to grab a change of clothes, then a whole slew of still sleeping remarks.

_Phewww! At least one of us has been busy today. _

However for the sake of my coming girl's night later this evening, I refuse to feel daunted and stomp towards to kitchen to get something to eat. Today being Saturday, I am not working and I can catch some much deserved sun. I sure can't remember when I had a good tan last. Well that won't do now would it. So breakfast first and then off to the yard.

In the kitchen, I found a note from Alcide on the breakfast bar.

'Leaving for some pack business.'

_What? That's it? A due payment reminder from the county department is warmer than that! Well fine then! Do your pack business and I'll get on with my human business and toast in the sun…_

So I refuse to let my boyfriend's lack of words and lack of presence ruin my mood and head out in the open porch with a sandwich, a glass of ice tea and a romance novel.

_Yeah! Thank God indeed for small pleasures…_

Great grandfather Niall told me last week that I needed to be ready for an upcoming four day formal event in New Orleans. He also told me that it was supe business and that I needed to be with him to represent the fae. I hadn't known that the only remaining fae or part fae in the state were great granddad, me, if I could be called one and Adilyne Bellefleur. Realizing that Warlow killed all the other fairies, and that it was I that pointed him towards the fairy club, jolted my conscience. There had been so many of us. So many that shared my quirks. And now all of them were gone, all because I had been so damn hasty in trusting a stranger and _helping_ him out. I wish I hadn't known about them. I wish they hadn't welcomed me to their home, as their family, as one of them. I wish I could have done right by them. And I sure wish trouble did not follow me anywhere I went. Was any of it worth anything? Everything that happened last year. Was anything worthwhile? Was I worthwhile?

I stopped musing at that question because I did not know how to answer it. I couldn't even think around it. So I put it on the ever growing list of things to think through and make sense of later, in my mind. God only knows when I'll get to the first item on the list because right now, I couldn't even speak his name to myself. Was that cowardly?

I spent my off day, all alone with my thoughts. But I didn't call Alcide. No, I needed to face this alone and do it fast. This shell of a girl that I saw in the mirror every day was not someone I wanted to become. She was confused and a coward. I didn't like her.

..

Alcide came back in time for lunch. Having spent the day lounging and sunning myself, I was in a really good mood and cheerily waved at him from my lounge chair. He growled when he saw my red bikini.

"Hey howz my girl?"

He came up quickly and gave me a peck on my lips before sitting down on the edge of the chair.

"Well it sure is a beautiful day. I couldn't let it waste now could I. C'mon I marinated some chicken. I'll cook us lunch."

He smiled appreciatively "Sounds good. I'll go take a shower." he stood up to go inside.

"Ok..." He was already at the front door, "Meet you in the kitchen!" I called after him, took a deep breath promising myself that I won't have a fight today and headed inside.

..

Tara was excited about this new dress store in Shreveport, Diantha's, which catered to supes and was open till two in the morning. That was our first stop. From the outside it looked, what do I say, cozy? It was not big, it was not small. There was a glass door, but there was a nice yellow blind drawn on it from the inside. The name was written in bold purple letters. The windows were covered with a huge blown up picture of a group of beautiful women dressed in pixies and fairies. It certainly looked something not ordinary. Certainly not some place I'd usually go to. But great granddaddy Niall wished me to look magnificent for the event and curiously handed me a credit card to shop for whatever I would need. I didn't want to spend too much but I did want to look pretty. So here we were, Tara, Jess, Laf and me.

We were greeted by this small pixie of a woman who spoke faster than she walked. She was wearing a hot pink tank dress, yellow and purple striped leggings, bubblegum pink pumps and big gold hoops. The outfit was a little on the eccentric side but her face somehow made everything fall in place. That and her bright smile.

"WelcometoDiantha's" she beamed at us. "IamDiantha…WhatcanIgetcha…" Her good mood was infectious.

"Diantha sugah, these ladies here all need some serious sexing up. Can you help us out?"

"Lafayette!" I roll my eyes. "Hey honey. We all are attending a formal four day event and need a couple of things for that."

"Thesupeconvo?"

"Huh?"

"NewOrleans?"

"Actually yes. How do you know?"

"Eventoftheseason"

"Oh! Ok, so you have to help us out."

And help she does. Despite her own eccentric outfit, there are a lot of elegant dresses to choose from too. For the next four hours, we forgot about everything and have one hell of a blast. Serious shopping apart, we got into skanky dresses and made fun of each other. We tried out dresses fit for a queen's ball and mock waltzed around the floor. We tried out matching outfits and took pictures, tumbling and giggling over each other. If I forgot that Tara and Jess were vampires, I almost got back to the good old days of happy ignorance. It was really therapeutic. After a long time, I felt a little normal. I felt like not having a care in the world. I felt me.

So, along with a spectacular evening gown, two cocktail dresses and three silk blouses, I also bought a pristine white cotton sundress, with little pink embroidered cherry blossoms all over it. It felt special.

Then I bought a few pieces of lingerie to go with the dresses. I may have gone a little overboard but what the hell. I could not remember the last time I actually shopped for something remotely approaching luxury. Our next stop was for shoes and evening clutches to go with our evening gowns. It got really out of hand.

By the time I got home at three in the morning, I was walking like a zombie and smiling like a loon. This trip had been just lovely and something told me this trip to New Orleans was going to be something special too.

...

**Ok so New Orleans and a whole lot of surprises coming up. Thanks for the support and keep reading and reviewing :) :)**


	4. Chapter 4 Out with the Old

I have never been to New Orleans. Whatever Tara gossiped about it being the party city and all still hadn't prepared me for the size of it. Coming from a small town where everybody knows everybody, and even working in a bar back there hadn't really prepared me for the crowds of strangers here.

We reached in the evening and were going through city and everything just sparkled with lights. I didn't exactly know where we were heading because everything was exciting and new for me. There were lights and shops and street performers and small restaurants and people having a good time everywhere, just like a perpetual carnival going on. People were carrying on their parties on the streets and looked oblivious to anyone who was interested enough to look their way. Well that would really feel great, doing something for all the world to see and not one person to sit in judgment over you. I sat quietly in the passenger side seat and looked out in wonder. I had a feeling I was really going to like it here. It eased my tense and over wrought nerves from last night.

It turned out that Alcide was going to the convention too. Why he didn't tell me earlier, I had no idea. But apparently he needed to be there with his pack and he wanted me to accompany him. He had been away so much and had spent a lot of time in his home in Shreveport; he probably didn't know that I already had my bags packed. Apparently he had forgotten that I was going to New Orleans with Niall and that I had been really excited for this trip since a week now. So it turns out that he just walked into my house yesterday, gave me a big kiss and told me to pack my bags.

"Surprise sweetpie! Pack your bags! We are going away on a vacation!" he beams.

I just looked at him, without any expression and deadpanned. "No shit! I bet the vacation is happening in New Orleans?"

He looked a bit shaken with that and furrowed his head quizzically. "How did you know? Who told you?"

"Alcide! There's a supe convention there. You being part of a werewolf pack and all are obviously going. I am not dumb! But did you forget already that Niall invited me to this thing two weeks ago? He told me all supes of the area are going to be there and I needed to go with him to represent the fae or something like that. I told you I was going. You should have asked earlier."

By the look of things, Alcide was working out things in his head.

"But I want you to go with me. You are my girlfriend. It's a given you are going with me. I want you with me where everyone can see. I was just keeping it as a surprise, with you sulking and all since a few days. I thought it would be good for us to get away for some time and really spend some good time together."

_Wow! Guys, I tell you, have no clue!_

"You mean it was a couples retreat? Alone?"

He looked contrite with that. "I'll need to be with the pack members from time to time."

_Wonderful surprise!_

"So you were planning on taking me where everyone is going to shine like a new penny and you weren't going to give me a chance to get prepared? You know, get some good clothes, shave my legs, get my nails done and all?"

If it was possible he looked even more baffled now. "Whadyu do that for? You look beautiful in anything you wear and you have a lot of nice clothes for church."

_Wow we really are from different planets!_

"Church Alcide? Never mind! It turns out that I already have everything packed up." Then I immediately felt bad at what I was going to tell him now. "Uh, I am sorry about your surprise but I am going with Niall Alcide. It's a family thing ya know." Then I brighten up and show him the bright side. "Hey, we'll spend that good time when we are there. I'm sure I won't be grounded for sneaking to your room or something now, would I?"

He wasn't taking the bait though and by the look of irritation on his face, he wasn't getting distracted either with the sneaking in the room bit I threw in.

"Look, I know it's a family thing. But you are with me now. Wouldn't it be better if you went with me?"

_Sigh!_

"Why does it matter so much whose car I get driven in? I'll be there and you'll be there and we can get together there. Niall really wanted me to go with him and he even bought me a lot of pretty clothes for the events. I need to officially be on his arm for two evening events as he told me and I can't deny him that Alcide. He is my great grandfather. I already have very little family left, fae or human. He is going to be representing the fairies there and I need to be right at his side for that, because if you haven't noticed, I am a part fae and just like your pack business, this is fae business for me. I won't blow it." _Damn right I won't!_

I finish my tirade and cross my arms in front of me and give him a level stare, challenging him to refute that.

It didn't count though because he started right back with me being his girlfriend, he missing me, he wanting to spend time with me and me not giving him any time. I really didn't want to get sucked into that so I very maturely decided to stomp to my room and slam the door with all my strength to get the point across that I wasn't arguing anymore and the room was not open for him either.

_Why don't guys ever understand me? Oh yes, the being an alien from a different planet thing of course! _

I couldn't sleep very well but I tried and then I was grumpy all day till the time Niall came up to pick me for our trip in the afternoon. His indulgent smile and old world charm brought me a little out of my funk and a couple of hours of staring out the window later, the new sights really pulled me out of the gloom. We talked a little on the way. I told him about the nonevents of my life and he told me some more about what to expect there. It really was a big event of the season and Niall was very serious about the right appearances. He gave me a few pointers towards my conduct namely holding my head high like a princess and taking things seriously. He really wanted this to be the proper introduction for me to his world I practically still knew nothing about, despite having dated two vampires and a werewolf. It was like there had always been some strife, some threatening problem, some danger on my life. Seven years ago, I met Bill and fell in love. I was so innocent and so clueless, no wonder I got so hurt. In my ignorance to the supe ways, I constantly flirted with disaster, constantly expected human behavior from non-humans and repeatedly got lied to and used. The past year was uneventful compared to the previous six, when I finally settled down into a somewhat normal relationship with Alcide. But if I thought that things would be easy, I was in for another surprise. Though I could spend time with him during the day, I could now hear his thoughts and sometimes I caught him comparing me to the she wolves of his pack he had been with before we got together. Although he had been faithful since we started seeing each other, he still had a hell lot of experience with a lot of women, compared with my lack thereof. He did love me in his own way and I felt thankful that I had something to work on. He never told me about his previous partners and I never asked. It's another matter that I knew a lot of gory details I cringed from. Did I see a threeway once?_ Ughhh stop thinking about it!_

Point is, I realized that it would be too lonely without him and I would be too vulnerable to others if I were single. Was that running away from my problems again?

_Yeah get in the line with the other questions in my head then!_

At least I felt loved enough to work hard on our relationship. God knows things had never been easy for me before that. At least Alcide was not planning on gifting me to his pack master or planning on catching a lying wolf in his pack through me. I consciously tried not to get into his pack business and didn't ask about it because I didn't want to be sucked in supernatural shit and getting hurt again. Normal humans didn't have centuries old marriage contracts to fight with. Yeah I was happy in pretending to be human enough and carrying on with my human enough life. Couples had problems, they solved them. Couples had disagreements they worked on them. Life would never be a story book romance for me. I accepted this and I made it a point to live with it.

I was still musing when we pulled up in front of the most impressive hotel building I had ever seen. The ornate sign said Windsor Court. It looked like a royal court to my backwater eyes.

"Cheese and rice great granddaddy Niall! We are staying here?"

"Oh yes dear one…I take it you like the place?" he replied trying to hide his smile of satisfaction.

I rolled my eyes and looked around. "Like? LIKE? It's a freaking palace…WOW!"

He finally gave out a full heartfelt laugh and gently took my hand. "Well you are my princess little one. Nothing less than a palace would do for a princess now would it?"

He took a step towards the main glass entrance and a bell boy came up, smiling politely and started loading our luggage and garment bags on his trolley. My eyes were ready to pop at the outrageous display around me and I quickly set in at a pace with great granddaddy lest I got lost. We went to check in at the reception area and the staff there already had our names and reservation details ready. I heard from the thought of the woman behind the desk that the hotel was hosting a lot of vampires and other funny humans. Those would be the other supes. They knew a little about the coming up event and were near to bursting to seams, as like the other hotels in the area. But this was undoubtedly one of the best places to be.

We were lead to our suite and I immediately went around the whole thing to explore. I had thought Dallas was special. Well this here was absolutely amazing.

I should go to more of these conventions, I silently promised myself.

Great granddaddy called from the sitting room of the suite. "Make yourself at home and try catching some rest. You'll need it later. Do order something to eat. I need to be at a meeting in half an hour and will be dining there. Are you sure you'll be alright for a couple of hours? Did you want to visit the town or something?"

I come to the sitting room from my explorations and smile. "Oh I'll be fine! I'll call Alcide or Tara and see where they are at. Right now I just want to soak up in that fancy bath we have here. I guess I'll eat after the bath. They are serving up till late right?"

"Oh you can order anything whenever you want. Don't be shy about asking for what you want, ok? I'll just quickly take my shower and be off then. The meeting is in a conference room in this hotel. They are having it at the Boardroom here."

He gave me another reassuring smile and was off to make himself presentable. I stepped into the balcony with my phone, taking in the expansive view of the city alive with lights and texted Alcide that I reached safely and gave him the hotel and room details. Then I dialed Tara's cellphone. She answered at the third ring.

"Hey Sook…wassup girl?"

"Oh hi Tara...I am in New Orleans. We reached a couple of minutes back."

"YOU'RE HERE! How do you like it? Where are you staying? Did you check out any pubs yet?" Tara squealed in a very non vampire fashion.

"Slow down Tara. I just got here. Great granddaddy and I are staying at the Windsor Court. And no I am yet to explore the party scene you go on and on about. But I love the place already."

We were approaching our schoolgirly sisterhood happy screech and I am sure with vampire hearing and all, a whole lot of New Orleans would know I was here at this hotel. Like I cared!

"Oh we'll see to that, don't worry! Bitch your gonna have a hell of a time here. I am sure Niall will have to drag your ass back to Bon Temps after your four days here are done."

I laugh aloud at that. "I am absolutely counting on it. So wanna meet up or something?"

"Wait a sec". The line went silent for a minute and then Tara returned sounding a little contrite. "I am really sorry Sook but there is this huge vampire thing going to happen tonight. I can't tell you the details but I _really_ need to be here or Pam will kill me. We are already at the _venue._ I didn't know there were so many vampires around Sook and they must all be here. Can we get together tomorrow?"

It seemed everybody had someplace to be, something to do.

"Sure thing sweetie…we'll get together tomorrow. Call me whenever."

I shut off the phone with a sigh. If all vampires were at wherever they were at, Jess would also be there so no point calling her. Although I felt a little bad at not being able to hit the streets with Tara tonight, I understood that she needed to be someplace else right now and so I moodily trudged inside. Then I remembered that Jason might be in the city with Violet. But I didn't call him. I just went inside and put my things in the walk in closet of the suite. Next I picked up an itinerary file Niall had given me to go through, to prepare me about what all places we'll be going to and when. So I sat planning what to wear for the parties and my mood lifted a bit. The itinerary said that there was a Vampire Convention going on today at the New Orleans HQ, wherever that was, and I guess that's where all the vamps were tonight. Tomorrow evening was the biggest event, an unveiling of some sort, dinner and ball. It was here that all the supernatural people would be heading to as representation of their kinds. I was supposed to go with Niall and Adilyne to this one. The next day would be the human affairs day with a luncheon and then another human and vampire event in the evening. The news people had been going on and on about this one since a couple of weeks. The two main mixed events were being hosted at night because of the vampires. The next two days would be sprinkled with bazaars, high teas and general mingling over a few parties. All in all, I could expect to be thoroughly entertained and thoroughly busy till it was time to go back.

..

..

Tara shut off her phone and looked at Pam.

"Pay attention Tara! I'll have your fangs if you fuck this up!"

Tara rolled her eyes. "Jeez!"

"Did you practice the walk and the curtsey? Do you remember the lines you'd need to speak to offer fealty?"

"Of course I do Pam! You been singing them to me like forever!"

"Tara I mean it. _I _don't have an issue with your attitude. But out there, rein it in if you wanna avoid the wrong side of a stake. I'll have no options then!"

Tara huffed. "Get off my back already! You know I don't give a shit about vampire governments but I ain't crazy to put on a show for all the world. Give me some fukin' credit here!"

Impressing her point on Tara with another narrowing of her eyes, Pam turned back towards the full length mirror to heck her look.

They were in the New Orleans vampire HQ complex, the same one where Sophie Anne had ruled from but that had been subject to a number of major design and décor changes since then, to accommodate their new monarch. It now looked less of an eighteenth century royal palace, and more of a modern fortress, to suit the new owner. It still held its old world charm, but the buildings had been totally redone to get rid of the over the top gilt furnishings and art pieces the late queen was so fond of.

Pam looked a diva in a deep red shimmery chiffon ball gown, clasped at one shoulder with a diamond brooch and showing a bit of her waist on both sides through strategically placed cuts. The dress reached her ankles and was slit on the left side up to her thigh. The chiffon curled up beautifully at the edges and gave the dress a floating watery feel and matched with her louboutins and diamond earrings. Tara was wearing a navy blue silk gown with a sweetheart neckline and thin rhinestone straps on the shoulders, showing off her ample curves. She looked utterly frustrated with her dress and had been grumbling since she wore it. Formal ball gowns were not her style. Nor were the expensive matching sapphires she was wearing. However she ate humble pie for once and gave in to Pam to dress like that. If anyone in Bon Temps would now see her, they'd surely roll their eyes to death. Being a vampire and following the maker's commands sucked some times.

..

..

BPOV

The grand ball room of Sophie Anne's headquarters was the biggest closed and secure space in the complex. At a time, it could host a party of five hundred guests. It was here that the main festivities of the evening were going to take place.

From the moment he crossed the first level security gates to the complex, Bill could not recognize a single thing about the place. It had been given a complete once over. Only the open grounds and gardens appeared to have been untouched.

_The new people sure like to change things! I wonder what else is going to change tonight!_

He moved forward through another security check point and made his way towards the entrance to the grand foyer. All the other parts and buildings of the whole place were accessed through here. As he made his way through the numerous hallways, guided by guards, markers and event planners, he met up with several old acquaintances. Acquaintances yes, friends, no. He kept looking out for his vampire friends from his time at the late queen's court and couldn't find a single one.

_Maybe like me, they aren't quite in agreement with the new regime. Well lets go see who is the new shark. I hope he is someone that can be swayed. Maybe they'll seek me out as an ex procurer and want to add me to their retinue. I better girdle up and get ready for the ass kissing._

Bill reached the grand ballroom and gasped at the number of vampires in attendance. There looked to be at least three hundred in attendance. He sure hadn't met most of them. A great number were clearly foreigners, Europeans perhaps. A lot of them had distinct accents from all over America. He did see Thalia glaring at everybody, from a corner. For Thalia, that was her normal state. He looked for Jess and found her making gooey eyes at James in the middle of the room. Bill turned with a sigh.

_Louisiana sure is coming up, I'd say…Have there ever been so many vampires present at the same place, other than vampire councils and trials?_

Vampires kept pooling in through the three entrances of the ballroom, all dressed in tuxedos and formal evening attire, all resplendent in a blatant display of beauty and power. The event was supposed to start at ten in the evening. At exactly five minutes to ten the three entrances were closed off and the master of ceremonies, the weretiger Quinn, stepped in front of the stage at the back, in the exact center of the room.

The stage was decorated with a banner of the supernatural council and another banner in some blue silk that was folded and tied around the edges with gold woven rope. On one corner, there was an ornate marble stand on which was kept a gold bowl and several sheets of neatly piled documents. In the center of the stage stood two elaborately decorated chairs, a small one and a large one, appearing much like thrones.

At the signal from Quinn, the band which had been playing light music since the evening started, went silent and everybody fixed their attention to the were. He was a well-known master of ceremonies, appearing only in the most exclusive of events and ran the elite event managing firm EEE. Quinn solemnly stood there in a dark robe and a tall staff which he hit the ground thrice, to get everybody's attention.

"On behalf of the Supernatural Council of America, I welcome all here to witness and take part in the solemn event taking place this evening."

Suddenly, the middle double doors, the grandest entrance to the ballroom, opened and in stepped a procession that had everybody gasping. In front walked two tall guards, radiating power and age, similarly blonde and blue eyed. They were followed by the handmaidens of the Ancient Pythoness, the head of the supernatural council. The Ancient Pythoness, old and regal, walked in after two of her handmaidens and then two more followed. She was the oldest vampire in the world and held the highest position in the supernatural councils across many countries. Monarchs could lose a hand and leg to have her mention their names. Her presence here showed off the kind of support the new powers had. It also went to prove that no one in their right mind, would even dream of challenging anything that was announced tonight.

_They sure are making a big deal out of themselves! Pompous asses…Whats all the fanfare about? Louisiana has had monarchs before! I never got anything like this!_

Along with all present, Bill braced himself for the announcement. He had a nagging feeling that a new monarch was going to be announced. He looked in awe at the procession from the door. If only he had the same kind of support. Another collective gasp went across the room when the next vampires in the procession, came in view.

On seeing who entered the room at a place of honor, Bill froze and spluttered on the blood drink he was drinking.

_Of all the confounded fuckery… Eric? How the hell?_

_..._

**_He is back..YAYY_**


	5. Chapter 5 In With the New

Eric Northman walked in with his retinue and instantly, he owned the room. In a sea of disinterested aristocrats, monarchs, warriors and the new younger vampires, he took over like a storm wave and no one could look elsewhere.

The procession of ancient vampires somberly proceeded through the grand ball room and everyone but the Ancient Pythoness and Eric, stopped at the edge of the stage, forming a formidable line of protection around the Viking. Eric held out his hand for the Pythoness to help her on the stage and then the two turned towards their waiting audience.

The sheer power of them standing there commanded the attention of all present vampires even without the master of ceremonies calling for silence. The Ancient Pythoness took a step forward and declared the Viking as the king of Louisiana and Mississippi, and a member of the supernatural council. A murmur ran through the room as all vampires finally beheld the face behind the change that was coming to them.

As part of the ancient formal ceremony of coronation of a new King, the vampires present were asked if there was anyone who wanted to challenge Eric or lay any claim for the monarchy.

The present vampires were shocked and impressed. It had been a long time indeed when a new monarch had had the courage to follow that part of the coronation ceremony. Most just perceived it as a threat and skipped the part. A few called it preposterous. But truth remained that it took real courage and a whole lot of crazy to do it and Eric had a lot of both these qualities.

In fact, there was just one other instance when a challenge had been put forward and coincidentally, it happened two thousand years ago in Viking country. The rulers were the twin brothers Abjörn and Ágeirr, who now ruled the modern Sweden, Norway and Finland. A few suspected that Eric had a connection with them but no one knew anything certain about that story.

When the challenge was spoken, it was as if the ground had swallowed up everyone present. There was pin drop silence as no one could take a step forward or even move and it was not because of the ceremony, or the scary looking blond vampires with Eric, or the guards, or the Ancient One. It was how Eric looked at each one of them with a cold hard gaze. It was the way he stood in front of everyone with complete self-assurance. It was the glint of power and dominance in his speckled blue eyes. Even those who had known him for years saw a shift in him. Something had surely changed in him. Something had grown in Eric Northman that now commanded the respect of each and every one that set eyes on him.

It took one whole of year of scheming and planning and healing and a millennium of accumulated experience before he reached this moment, this stage, this room full of vampires looking up at him...

..

It took Eric three months to heal from being burnt in the sun…Three excruciating months of being bedridden and weak and dependent after a millennium of power… He was saved because he had been in the Kingdom of his sire's siblings and even when he said he wanted to be alone, they still ordered the special humans in their retinue to check on him from time to time for feeding. He had been very lucky that two humans were already on their way towards him when his Warlow sunscreen wore off and he started to burn.

When they found him, his skin and hair were gone, along with most of his muscles. His extremities were burnt and he was crippled without his hands and his toes. Eric cursed, he sulked and he brooded…He didn't say it and it wasn't easy but he was thankful for Pam being constantly with him in those months. Later he was thankful for the fact that for the first time in his long undead life, he got so much period of safe inactivity that forced him to just really sit and think about well, everything. It was truly painful when his body grew back little by little. It was more than painful when he forced himself to confront his demons while the healing happened.

So many shitty mistakes!

Why had he let imbeciles like Bill rule over him when he could easily claim power, and perhaps then, the clusterfuck with the humans would not have happened! He let his progenies walk into disaster and then he had to follow them. He let his sister rot. He could not save her. Godric told him to protect Nora, and he failed Godric. He did avenge her death, but that would never bring her back.

Then there was Sookie Stackhouse. In all his years of undead existence, he finally found someone he loved so much that he even agreed to die for her. And what did she do? At the first test, she left him and walked out the door. And however bitter it may have left him, he did let her go. That was the right thing to do. But it left him bitter nonetheless. Bitter and empty! Worst thing was, Eric knew in his heart that if they came to such crossroads again, he would gladly lay down his life for her, again, and she would walk out on him, again, on some flimsy pretext, widening the hole she left when she walked out the last time. _Fucking flighty fairies! Why did it bother him so much? Was she really worth all of it?_

So many regrets!

But Eric moved on. And he did what he did the best, he survived. Death would not hold him back. Hell, his own death hadn't stopped him and he had jumped at the choice Godric brought to him, to have an undead life. Heartbreak would not hold him back. Anger would not handicap him. He stepped up to be the man his human father would have been proud of. He stepped up to be the vampire Godric would have been proud of. He understood that he needed to let go of his past to move past the wall that was blocking him in his heart. He wanted to be the son, the maker, the vampire that he himself could approve of, could understand and could live with. Somehow, he found the strength to start his journey towards being that man, that vampire.

When he was healed, Eric started travelling across Europe to reform his ties with the ancient European monarchs Godric had trusted enough to be friends with. Being the progeny of one of the oldest and most respected vampires earned Eric a lot of allies. He made a point to stay most of the year with Abjörn and Ágeirr, working for them, with them and earning their trust and respect.

He knew the Supernatural Council had been planning to keep away till another monarch decided to claim the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, as was the norm with vampires. But he could not turn away from keeping those few people he still cared for, as safe as possible. So Eric got in touch with the Supernatural Council and started the process of setting up a new political structure for the bereft region again.

He contacted and secured the support of the few oldest vampires from the two states- Thalia, Sigebert, Wybert and Andre. Eric knew if he could convince these four to what he planned to do, the others would just step in line behind them and follow.

Sigebert and Wybert were around eight hundred years old, brothers from their human life and vampire siblings in their undead lives. They were Anglo Saxon warriors and even in their human lives had been frightening to look at. Both towered over six and a half feet, had broad frames and were heavily built. They were unruly, daring and very strong. But they had been swordsmen in their human lives and still remained so at heart. Give them a battle to fight and food and women to tide them over and they had everything they could ask for. Eric did not have to convince them for long. It involved a wager, a sword fight and a few injuries that the three of them could laugh off. They also saw that Eric was bold, fearless and spirited like them. The brothers lost the wager and like the honorable warriors they were, swore fealty to Eric.

Andre Paul was no warrior. His strength lay in his cunning and his ability to make problems disappear without a trace. He could be valuable if handled correctly. So when Eric approached him with an offer to be a sheriff and an iron bound contract, Andre recognized the importance of a good leader and the imminence of a bloody coup if someone worthwhile did not rise up to the task of bringing the state's affairs under control. He also appreciated Eric's foresight and his crafty art of negotiation. He readily accepted the offer.

Before becoming sheriff, Thalia lived a lonely life and liked it that way. Put her in a group of humans or vampires and she became an outright sociopath. Even if she followed all rules, vampires avoided her like a plague and humans were plain terrified of her. But the tainted true blood and infected humans hit everybody, and Thalia was not unaffected. She became even more antisocial and distrusted everyone. She was also two centuries older than Eric, a vicious and accomplished warrior and best of all, Eric saved her life once and now she owed him a favor. It was tough to get around her non responses but Eric was slick and finally succeeded in bringing her around. Add to that Eric was probably the only vampire that had a favor with Thalia. As aloof and as prickly as she was, she admired a good warrior and could follow a worthwhile leader. Once she promised Eric her loyalty, Eric was sure that she had his back and she was the only one he decided to trust with his own previous area to oversee. Needless to say, his first task for Thalia had been to issue an edict to make "_fairies_" and "_part fairies_" in his states, untouchable by vampires, without consent.

The four new sheriffs were all honorable in their own ways, powerful and old. The other thing they had in common was a hearty contempt for their previous King Bill. With everything going on, the four accepted the fact that the option Eric gave them was really the best one they had. No telling when some other vampire laid claim to the states and what kind of fate they would have after that. They knew Eric since decades. They knew he could be the leader everyone was missing. So, they came on board and together they met the Supernatural Council to claim Louisiana and Mississippi. With the numbers each of the five was representing, the council could not refuse and they accepted Eric's claim. Eric became king and Thalia, Sigebert, Wybert and Andre became his sheriffs.

..

Most of the existing monarchs had already seen it coming, given that after the true deaths of Russel Edgington and Godric and not counting the Ancient Pythoness, Eric Northman was now the oldest vampire among them, younger only to Thalia who swore fealty to him. He could have claimed kingship over Louisiana years before but had always stayed away from an active role in politics. Even younger, few could have willingly wanted to face him in a battle of arms or wits. Age only improved what already was magnificent in Eric and today, they could all see that he absolutely knew and embraced it.

So when the choice was spoken out, no one challenged Eric Northman's claim.

Eric came forward and kneeled on one knee in front of the Ancient Pythoness. She held a plain gold circlet and spoke chants of protection over it, before placing it over the Viking's brow. Then he was crowned with his ancient Viking crown and was presented with his sword and a shield depicting the sea and a sword. Eric rose and the folded blue silk banner was unfurled for the first time. On the turquoise blue material were embroidered in gold thread, a few waves and a sword, that now represented the Viking. All present vampires nodded deeply in respect for the new king, the younger ones, kneeling in deference.

The ceremony went on for most of the night. Each of the sheriffs, along with Eric's progenies Pam and Willa, and Tara, offered their blood to their king in the charmed golden goblet, as a sign of their oath, and swore fealty again in front of all witnesses and the Pythoness. Every vampire from the states of Louisiana and Mississippi came forth one by one to congratulate Eric and to swear loyalty for his rule and took an oath to protect him and those under his protection with their lives. As expected, Bill Compton was one of the last ones to approach the stage and his expression was not congratulatory.

..


	6. Chapter 6 A New Day

**Ok so I was wanting to get to the evening party but this thing was getting long so I decided to put that part in the next chapter. The Alcide angst isn't going to last long now (as most of you might have already noticed)...Hope you enjoy it and share your thoughts :)**

**Sookie's POV**

A new day, a new morning, in a new city! The moment I opened my eyes this morning, I knew something was special about today. There was a buzz in the air that I could almost touch and taste. I happily stretched and went to my palatial bathroom to take care of my morning routine and took a long hot shower. I found Niall in the sitting room with a big breakfast spread out on the coffee table and I squealed like a five year old. I could get used to that!

"Good morning sunshine."

I skipped up to give great granddaddy a hug and a kiss on the cheek before settling down to eat my breakfast.

"Good morning great granddaddy! When did you come back last night? I guess I fell asleep." I took a bite of the blueberry pancakes and a sinfully big bite of a chocolate biscuit, "Uhhhh…these are reaaalllly good!"

Niall smiled indulgently at me. But really, how long had it been since I woke up to a steaming hot proper southern breakfast. Oh yes, never since gran…

"I got in late. We had a lot to discuss. It's good that you had a good night's sleep because we have a busy evening coming up and you need to look like my sparkly princess."

I had to laugh at the childish pictures of a sparkly Disney princess that came to my mind at that. So I pouted and sassed back. "Oh but great granddaddy, where are my wings? I can't be a sparkly fairy princess without my sparkly wings."

"You don't need the wings to be a fairy princess my girl. You sparkle already. If you keep hold of this good mood, I am sure you will dazzle our evening and no one will remember to ask about the wings."

Awww… So I just had to shed a tear or two for that alone. Apart from the spectacular breakfast, how long had it been since I got a heartfelt compliment like that? Gran used to say things like that all the time. I missed her today…But surprisingly I was not feeling morose at missing her. Talking and spending time with Niall was proving to be very therapeutic for my frazzled soul.

"Good lord granddaddy I don't sparkle. I am your great granddaughter is all. You are supposed to feel that way about your grandchildren…"

He waved his napkin in the air and brushed my blush away.

"None of that now! My girl let me tell you this, even if I wasn't your great granddaddy, I would have cherished you as much as I do now. You don't know this, but, there is a light inside of you. Not all can see it. You just have to embrace it Sookie. That light is a part of you too and when you shun it, you shun a part of yourself that is truly beautiful. Let it in Sookie, it will never guide you the wrong way. And it has nothing to do with you being part fairy. I have seen many fairies and not all of them have it. This is all you my dear, not your blood, not your lineage,,, all you."

I just sat there, catching flies, stunned to silence. What great granddaddy said, just awoke so many memories that I gasped at the actual tug I felt in my heart.

I knew those words. I remembered those words. So much of what Niall said was too much like what he used to say. He, who I could not name, even in my messed up head…

_There's a light in you! It's beautiful…_

_There are two Sookie Stackhouses…_

_I like Sassy Fairy Sookie!_

_You want to live don't you?_

_It's not me… it is your survival instinct…_

Shit…

He had spoken those words to me. At the moment I thought he wanted me to be more the fairy because he only loved the fairy blood in me. Did he really mean to say what Great granddaddy was saying? Could he know me so much? Could he care?

I really didn't want to go there. I was having a good morning and I didn't want to ruin it just yet.

"I didn't mean to pry but I heard that young lady!"

I just wanted to eat and be merry but great granddaddy had to rain in my parade... _life is a bitch_.

_Uhh sorry! _

"Sorry I didn't mean to cuss in company"

"Oh, I don't mind the occasional cussing when well deserved. I heard the other part though. Now who was that?"

_There goes my morning! _

I sighed before answering. "_That_ is Eric. Eric Northman. He was some vampire sheriff here and he used to run that bar Fangtasia in Shreveport before all vampire businesses were closed down. I met him through Bill. We uhh…_helped_ each other a couple of times. We were, umm, kinda friends…?"

Eyebrow raise…"A _vampire_? What kind of help are we talking about?"

Phhttt… "_Vampire_ business mostly. A few favors here and there." And a whole lot of innuendo…Hmmm…

The raised eyebrows were not coming back to ground level. Add a stink eye to catch my bullshit too.

I gave out another theatrical sigh and decided to be honest. "Oh alright! I helped him with my telepathy to find a rat at his bar and then to find his maker and he helped me back few times. He was the one that got Bill to fess up to the lies he was telling me and removed another very old psycho vampire from my trail. When I went to that fairy realm and Jason put my house on the market, he bought my house and renovated it. He spent a few days at my place after getting cursed and we uhhh, became … more than _friends_. He returned my house to me a few days back though. For a dollar!"

Try as I may, I could not form words after that. I had really gone straight into the hornet's nest of memories here. I desperately clutched at some coherent sentence that could be said but I just couldn't. The words, my thoughts, my shields, just up and left me out cold.

That was a shock to my system…

I was under the impression that nothing could affect me much anymore. After all my years with the vampires, I took pride in the fact that I was a hardened bad ass. But when I started telling great granddaddy about Eric, something happened to me. I don't know what exactly, but my heart stirred and I distinctly felt blood coursing around my veins. Well now that was weird! I mean we know we live and we have blood flowing in our bodies but we are not aware of it as such. The whole story of my eventful life started coming up in bits and pieces and I ended up telling Niall a great deal about Bill, the Rattrays, Bill's deal, Rene, meeting Eric, the Dallas fiasco, the epic Maryann fiasco, Mississippi and the werewolves, Russell Edgington, right till the night I came to know about Bill's reality and deception. I stopped at that point. I knew what came afterwards with the witch's curse. I couldn't go there…Not yet…

_I couldn't, right? I had locked it up, right?_

I dropped my gaze and started eating in silence, more like pushing food around the plate, silently pleading great granddaddy to not ask anything else. Thankfully great granddaddy was telepathic too and respected my need for silence.

"We can talk more when you are ready Sookie. I just want my pretty princess to be happy."

I started to say that I was happy, but my voice hadn't come back from where it went to a few moments ago.

Niall rose and kissed the top of my head. He gently clutched my shoulder and looked very seriously in my eyes. "Never run from yourself Sookie. I meant what I said about your sparkle. The problem with battling your own self is that even if you win, you lose!"

_Huh!_

He left me sitting with that thought, the door to my secret closet of repressed emotions and memories hanging open in my mind, and went to wherever he was going.

I sat there a long time I had finished eating. I was alone and thankful for it. No one was calling and no one was demanding me to fetch fries. I walked over to the windows and sat on the carpeted floor beside the floor to ceiling windows of the sitting room, soaking up the sun and looking out to the beautiful blue sky. I loved the sun and I loved a clear sky. They were my friends. Maybe, while I was with my friends, I could just, take a quick peak into things I had been turning away from? I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and leaned my forehead on the comforting warm glass of the window. Little by little I opened the door to the memories I had kept for the day I could gather courage to look at them again.

"_I offer myself in exchange for Godric's freedom and the girl's as well."_

"_Trust me…"_

"_There are two Sookie Stackhouses. One who still clings to the idea that she's merely human, and the other who's coming to grips with the fact that you are better than that." _

"_You want to live, don't you?"_

My eyes were already full of tears when I opened them. I didn't know I remembered his voice so clearly. I had been all twisted up in Bill when he had said all that to me. I once told him that I'd prefer cancer over him. Perhaps Bill Compton had been that cancer I'd preferred over him. And I had never trusted Eric! Never!

Once it started, I did not know how to shut the words ringing in my ears.

"_Don't underestimate yourself! Your life is too valuable to throw away! "_

I again went to Bill Compton when he left me once. I put my life on line to save Bill and Bill drained me in return.

"_Everyone who claims to love you: your friends, your brother, even Bill Compton; they all gave up on you. I never did. "_

I rolled into a ball and lay down on the floor, the sun now hot on my body. I desperately wanted to bottle up everything I had unleashed upon myself but I couldn't do it. The memories hit me one after another and I was just a dazed spectator, unable to look away.

"_I would never hurt someone so beautiful…"_

"_I'm listening to your heart beat. I can hear it every pulse through your skin into mine. If I lay still and think about nothing else, it's like my own hearts beating."_

I couldn't stop my heart from beating a hundred miles a minute. I could not stop my tears from falling. I could not plug the chasm resurfacing in my heart. It was pure torture.

"_She has a warrior's heart your majesty…"_

Did he really say that about me? Did I still have that warrior's heart? Was I still fighting for my family? For myself? For my happiness? The answer was a resounding NO…

"_There's a light in you. It's beautiful…I couldn't bear it if I snuffed it out…"_

"_We will be one…"_

Could he have meant it? Could he have meant it all? Did he love me? Did I love him? He looked at me the same way when he got his memories back. Why couldn't I look him in the eye that evening? Did this running away from myself start that evening? I walked away knowing what I was doing to him. Did I know what I was doing to me? Did I think it through?

Then another memory silently flooded my brain.

"_To me you'll always be that girl in the white dress…"_

The dam broke at that and terrified with what I started to feel, I quickly shut that memory lane down and cried myself dry.

..

Three hours later, when I stood up from that spot by the window I'd never forget now, I liked the way my shoulders were squared. I walked down to the bathroom to wash my face and as I splashed my face with cold water, I looked up and gazed at my reflection intently. I had washed away the tear stains but my eyes were puffy and swollen. Something was different about my eyes though. I straightened up without breaking eye contact with myself and kept looking as a smile appeared on my lips, a smile that looked like reaching my eyes. If I'd had any tears left, they would have made a return at the emotions I was feeling at being able to meet my own eyes squarely in a mirror.

I had done it! I had gone back to the place where I had hidden myself away. I had peeked inside that place where I kept so much of myself I had lost over the years. I knew I still had to go a long way in untangling the mess inside my head but I faced up to it today. I faced up to the fact that something was wrong and I had to make it right. I faced up to the fact that somewhere on my headstrong way, I had lost touch with something that I should not have lost. I would find it though. I needed to find the lost part of my heart and conscience.

I looked my reflection and tried another thing I had been unable to do. I took a deep breath and said the words to myself.

"_I am sorry…_"

..

My reverie was broken when my phone started ringing. I hurried towards the bed side table I had placed it to charge and saw the id.

_Alcide! _

_Talk about stalker timing! Could he tell who I was thinking about?_

I tried but could not feel guilty for missing Eric. No, not a bit guilty. Sad perhaps?

"Hey Alcede…So are you here yet?"

"Hey honey…yes I arrived this morning, an hour or so back. We have a pack meeting for lunch today and then there is a convention in the evening. So I was thinking, do you want to go to the event as my date this evening?"

_Uh o…_

I swallowed the snark and just tried to be as calm as possible, knowing if we both blew our heads of, we were getting nowhere. "I am sorry honey…Great granddaddy needs me to go on his arm tonight, as part of the fairies and sit with them for a bit or so he told me. But we can dance together later at the ball. You just wait till you see my new dress."

I could hear as he let out a sigh. "Sookie I really needed you to go with me. It has to do with your protection. The other supes need to know who you belong too otherwise they would never quit sniffing on your trail. I want you safe while you are here."

_Again, are we really talking about this?_

"I'll be fine." I was really getting tired of the constant whining and complaining. What is with guys thinking they are masters of the universe and our be all and end all and we are damsels in distress without them by our sides? "Besides, I am with my great granddaddy and he can take care of me."

I could detect some growling on the line. "You mean I cannot take care of you for one evening?"

Well it's really not my fault if I was getting angry. I could have said I didn't mean it that way but I was truly done trying to firefight every burning argument we had. "Are you picking a fight? Because if you are then let me tell you Alcide, this is really getting old now. This constant complaining and pushing me around is going to stop and it is going to stop right now. I am done with your constant bitching!"

Wow, I don't know where this response came from but it surprised me. It sure shocked the hell out of Alcide. So much so that he went silent. Not once had I made a retort like that when he asked me different variations of 'don't you love me', 'don't you care about me', 'don't you trust me' yada yada yada…I just used to go silent to avoid further conflict and he usually got what he wanted. Like I cared! As I said before, I had stopped caring about a lot of stuff, including my conscience, and it seemed a lot of people had been taking advantage of that. But that had to stop. I knew I needed to take control of my life and I was going to fight for it if need arose. A vacation and a talk with caring parents or grandparents or great grandparents sure does wonders for a girl! God, I didn't know how much I was missing family before that.

I realized Alcide was still turning levers in his head for an answer so I decided to fill the gaps. "Do you have anything else to say?"

"No"

"Ok see ya later then…" And I pressed the end button.

God that felt good! I didn't care to over analyze what exactly I was feeling good about but as far as I can remember, a good argument always made me feel in control, especially when I put some overbearing jerk in his place.

_Did I just call my boyfriend an overbearing jerk?_

I actually giggled at the words. I giggled so hard that I lay back on the bed and shook with laughter for a good five minutes before I could control myself. Yep! This was officially turning out to be a special day. Wander what else was waiting to happen…

..

..


	7. Chapter 7 Breath of Life

**Ok so I am really sorry for the long delay in posting any updates on my stories. There was a mess up of epic proportions at work and I had to pull a few all nighters as well as work throughout the long labor day weekend :( *Cute Contrite face* :( ...I still have coding hangover but I am getting by :)**

**But I am back with an update and here's a long chapter for you...Read and lemme know if you like the direction this is going in...**

* * *

**Eric's POV**

I rose at sundown and the first thing I felt was something I hadn't felt in quite some time. I concentrated on the feeling to pin point the source. It wasn't Pam or Willa. I could clearly feel my two girls still dead for the day. They would be up in a few minutes. This one though, felt like a pull and a slight warmth, right where my heart used to beat a thousand years ago. A need to be somewhere I wanted to be. So I searched further. It felt as if something was flowing through me, some form of warmth that took a life of its own.

_Oh!_

If I was right about the source, there was no reason to be feeling what I was…

It was going to be a very busy night for me, so I quickly got up, showered and fed on some tested bagged blood. I was the new monarch of two states which had gone through hell for two years and problems do not solve themselves. Though I had worked behind the scenes for around six months, I was now out in the open, with the wolves so to speak, and that made things more hectic.

Before the formal event of the evening, I needed to attend to a number of less formal and more important affairs. The first one was a meeting with my team of lawyers and it went on smoothly as expected. I was briefed on all the paperwork which would be signed later and I made sure we had everything we needed on hand.

My second meeting was with other vampire monarchs who had made the trip to New Orleans to, for the lack of better words, give me their blessings and check out competition. I was pretty sure two of them were already thinking about marriage contracts. But I sure as hell was not looking that way. No pun intended but, I think my heart was a bit too dead for that complication. I was more interested in the affirmation of state lines and trade and asset distribution agreements with the other vampire kings and queens. The negotiations had been going on for quite some time but today I needed to sign a lot of contracts and had my trusted demon lawyer Desmond Cataliades and his team for assistance. They had already gone through each and every one of the gazillion legal documents all over the big table in the conference room.

At the end of two hours, we still had to get to the asset documentation. It was basically contractual dos and don'ts on my state assets, all kinds of creatures included, and terms for other known useful resources in other kingdoms. I did have access to the best resources the Supernatural Council had, and that was a lot, but I needed to set boundaries for the others eyeing beings that came within my state lines. Most of those special beings didn't even know they had any significance for the state, or had legal contracts being drawn over their ownership, or that those state lines even existed. I already had each and every one of them listed, researched and documented with me. It could be called spying without permission, but what can I say, vampires are like that. Someone used to call us high handed and they were spot on with that description.

My last engagement would be the evening meeting with all different supernaturals and their representatives in my state and a few from further around. There were some representatives from the American leg of the Supernatural Council, who were attending. As I understood, the individual groups had already had their meetings prior to the big get together. I hoped it went on smoothly because one can never tell about supes. They may be getting along one moment and then in less than a second, someone could bring up some racist shit and everybody would draw daggers at each other. It had happened before. It could happen tonight. So I requested reps from the Supe Council there to control the situation. Apart from that danger, it was really a very big event, with a lot of supes coming out of hiding to meet the others for the first time. It sure had been a royal pain in the arse to get them to come together. But we needed everyone together. It was important to demonstrate the strength of my states and it was important to do that when a lot of powerful vampires were looking.

We decided to postpone the vampire meeting to until after the supe event because it was already time to be there. So we broke up the meeting and I went to my residence chambers to take get dressed for the ball. I decided to check on my progenies and found Pam practically drowning in couture in her room.

Quick retreat ….

Willa was pulling at some rolling contraptions from her hair and there was some kind of green goo on her face. I just had to ask about that. I stopped at the door and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh… what? What? Are the waves looking good?" Willa gestured at her hair.

"I'll get there when I get past the goo on your face."

She furrowed her brows. "It's a refreshing mask I always use before any parties or stuff!"

_What the…?_ "You do realize you are a vampire now and vampires come as fresh as they do."

Willa jumped up and started towards the door, the voice rising with her nerves for the coming party. "Whatever… I just always do it and I can't change all my habits right away. It is girl stuff and it helps me relax." She practically shoved me out of the doorway. "Go now. You are distracting me and I need to look perfect for the evening."

So I just put my hands up in surrender. "Ok, ok I am going. You do your girl stuff. I'll get out of your hair."

It took me ten minutes to get ready for the ballroom event and I decided I should be there as soon as possible to start making the appearance I was supposed to be making. I checked with the guard room on my way to see if everything was smooth and that there was no funny business anywhere. It was the first upgrade I did to Sophie Anne's place when I came here. The guard room now has a whole wall of display consoles from where the guards can effectively keep an eye on the whole property and the exits, can change angles and can track a person around the complex. I made sure it was the best stuff available or unavailable in the market. No way was I making the mistake of taking security lightly ever again.

I didn't mean to, but as soon as I entered the ballroom, my traitorous eyes went straight to the golden goddess standing in the middle of the room, looking absolutely gorgeous.

My step faltered.

I, Eric Northman, thousand year old vampire king of Louisiana and Mississippi, Viking warrior of the old world, forgot that I was walking, forgot that there were others in the room and forgot that I needed to start acknowledging the people that were greeting me. But I just…forgot. I again felt the warmth running through my veins, as I had felt earlier.

_So it was you…Who else could it be…._

For an instance, I forgot that I had decided to move on with life.

_Stop being pathetic and don't make an ass out of yourself Northman…She doesn't rule you…_

But why did she have to look like that? Why did she have to call to my blood like that?

Just out of habit, I did a quick check around her. As expected, the vultures were already circling and I could see how many of them wanted to devour her. I couldn't help it that I wanted to tear apart each and every one of the buzzards who thought she could be so easily had. The only thing that kept me tethered to where I was, was her own decision to stay away from vampires, from me, and that killed me in that second, as much as it had killed me the night she said it. If only she hadn't walked out on me…If only she hadn't sent me away…

Bill Compton was shamelessly moving towards her and doing his poor impression of a smirk at me. No doubt his delusional mind was still claiming Sookie to be his own.

_Weasel! That's our vampire ex-god folks! When I'm finished with him, he won't be fit to be called anything. _

_Oh and there's that wolf circling and sniffing…He looks like someone stole the bone he was chewing. _

I put the others out of my mind and concentrated on Sookie. I could not look enough at Sookie's hypnotic form right across from me, more so because I didn't know when I would even look at her again. Standing and talking to faceless no bodies and feeling and having her so close and yet so far, was pure torture. But I had to do it for my own sanity. I knew if I slipped even an inch, she would be the death of me. And I couldn't die. Not when I had so many to protect. Not when I had her to protect. I straightened out and in my head, silently recited the moving on speech I liked to tell myself from time to time.

Sookie Stackhouse wanted a life apart from me and she would have it. I practically fell at her feet and she turned away from me. She didn't want me and it stung.

I had my back towards her to concentrate more on the conversation I was having with Thalia, when she suddenly went rigid and hissed.

"We have a problem."

**Sookie's POV**

I felt like I was a five year old, waiting excitedly the whole day for my mom to dress me in my new pretty frock, for the party in the evening. Only this one, was nothing like any party I had ever had or been to, or had been within a ten mile distance of. See, Bon Temps is just not the partying kind of town. We have the usual Christmases and thanksgiving dinners and Halloweens. Occasionally we get a birthday or a promotion party at Merlotte's. But judging by what Great Granddaddy told me, today I was going to a King's ball and I was expected to look the _sparkly princess_.

After lunch, I took a long shower under the wonderful rain shower thing in the suite bathroom, and shaved my arms and legs. I blow dried my hair to soft waves and went to look at the dress I was wearing. It was a shear peach gold fitted gown, with crystals all over the bust and the skirt. It delicately hugged all my curves and flared out right at the knees, making me look like a shimmery mermaid, right out of water. It was by far the most beautiful piece of clothing I had ever owned and I wanted to look perfect in it. So I primped and preened and brushed and lacquered well into the evening till it was time for us to leave. My hard work seemed to have paid off when I finally left my room to meet up with Niall. He looked at me for half a minute, and before I could start hyperventilating, a beautiful smile spread on his lips as he offered me his arm to leave.

"You look like a princess great granddaughter. I'd be honored to have you on my arm tonight."

"Well great granddaddy, you look dapper too. And it may not show, but I am really nervous right now."

"Why sugar? You look great. Just hold your head high and enjoy your evening. Nothing to be nervous about..."

Adelyne was already with great granddaddy, looking a pretty picture in a hot pink figure hugging dress. It was her first big party too and the girl was splitting at her seams with nervous tingling. Great granddaddy chuckled and just clutched both our hands for a moment and blew on them. Our hands glowed yellow for a moment. Adelyne stopped fidgeting and I felt more peaceful than I had felt in perhaps a whole year.

"That was one neat trick there…Thanks!" Both Adelyne and I giggled and Niall laughed out. So, we headed out to our party, I for one, feeling like Cinderella.

..

Everything about the whole complex in the middle of New Orleans most elite neighborhood was beautiful. Whoever designed and decorated the place, sure knew what they were doing, and knew it well. It was spectacular and muted at the same time. I had to laugh aloud at the actual red carpet adorning our path all the way through some stunning gardens lit with myriad lights in all the trees, and it led us to a big enclosed building, connected with the other buildings on the opposite side.

As I stepped inside, I could not control the audible gasp that left my lips at the sight that met my eyes.

It was spectacular…

If I was feeling like a Cinderella before, now I felt that I had arrived at the King's Ball in a beautiful golden dress. And turns out I didn't have to go back by midnight either. I was the fairy here, remember? I could tweak all rules.

There was a large buffet set up on one side of the large ball room. I say ball room because with its magnificent chandeliers, high vaulted ceilings and gilt mirrors placed all around, it couldn't be anything else. There was a whole orchestra playing some classic beautiful numbers that I didn't recognize but was totally loving. If it was not for the complete jumble of thoughts flying around the place, it would have been my perfect ball. Still, it was pretty wonderful.

And don't even get me started on how wonderful everyone looked. I silently thanked the lord for my splurge on the dress I was wearing because it fit right in with the others. There were a number of vampires flitting about in the room and I caught sight of a few familiar faces from the Bon Temps human-vamp mixer. Great granddaddy introduced Adelyne and me to a number of important people, which were supernatural creatures of some kind because of the funny brainwaves I was getting. I could also tell that Adelyne was royally confused and thoroughly excited. I'd have to keep an eye for her before trouble could catch up with her.

There were the red hazy weres and shifters that I knew about. Then there were some that were just white noise like on a wrong TV channel (maybe they were late on subscription payments?), some with a sort of beeping alien signal going on (World War two SOS?) and some which were definitely human but were blocking their thoughts from me. While making my first impressions on so many different individuals, I sometimes forgot that technically I am an alien too. But not making snarky comments in my mind is just too much fun to miss up on. Apart from them there were a lot of humans loudly broadcasting as well. Excitement and awe was the undertone in every mind though. So I was busy experiencing the different thought patterns, when I felt a void at my back.

I turned and teased. "You are a shitty vampire Tara. You can't even sneak up on a plain old human."

"Yeah! Plain old human my ass!" she smiled and stepped forward to give me a good hug. Vampires don't hug but Tara is my childhood friend and a new vampire so what the hell. "How have you been girl? Where's your dog?" she sniffed around me for good effect.

"Phhttt…I guess he is gnawing some bone of contention in some corner my fairy lights don't reach! I've been good otherwise. And this…" I rounded my hand around the room, "is the best friggin party I've ever been to."

"I am telling ya Sook, fucker's not good for you! God you have the knack of picking up the worst of 'em. This one smelt awful too." Then she winked at me. "Try out my team sometime."

I rolled my eyes at that… "No thank you…I am fine with my team." And since I didn't want to further discuss my relationship issues in a room full of beings with super hearing, I changed the topic. "You look amazing…"

Tara did a pirouette for my benefit, showing off her dress and ample curves. "You got that right! But I ain't commin' nowhere near you tonight...You'll cost me all my dates…Not only do you look amazing, I now know why vampers never leave you alone. You smell awesome!" she said the last part with a bit of glaze in her eyes and I realized that the fairy scent was beginning to go to her head.

_U' oh_…

I was sweet scented to the vampires and Niall could mask his scent, but Adelyne was getting a lot of unwanted attention, though she seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. Can't blame a girl for that though! So I decided to move Tara away from our little group and started walking further into the ballroom.

"Tara sweety, New Orleans is one hell of a city! No wonder you shifted and didn't want to come back."

Tara started walking with me when I tugged at her arm, still a little dazed, but managed to give me a coherent reply. "Aah c'mon Sook, Bon Temps is the fucking capital of excitement if you ask me. Ain't no second passes without something going to shit…"

She was so right about that…We walked towards the dance floor and saw Jessica wrapped up in the arms of James, perfectly oblivious to the onlookers. She looked happy and horny, the perfect combination for a vampire.

I again felt that warmth going right through me, reaching every particle of my being. I couldn't explain why but suddenly I felt safe and cared for. It was a good feeling. Was seeing Jess and James together making me feel so good?

_Weird!_

Tara distracted me from my thoughts. "I hate romance!"

I looked at her and she was looking equal parts forlorn and grumpy. "Oh honey. What happened with Pam? You still seeing her?"

She grimaced at that, "Yeah we see each other when her head is not stuck in that jerk's ass!"

_Oh! That had to be…!_

Still I asked to be sure. "Uhhh jerk?"

"Yeah grand fucking daddy! Eric Northman!"

Did she always spit out his name like that? Yes she always spit out his name like that…

Did I always feel bad when she did this? Ummm yeah if I think about it…!

Which fortuitously brings me to a topic of conversation I am dying to start and dying to ignore and no idea what to do about.

"So Eric is here?"

"Sure he is here, where else would he be?…You won't believe me but he…"

Right then we are interrupted by someone too close to my back for comfort.

"Sookeh!"

_Oh great! Just when I was starting to have fun!_

I still had to turn and acknowledge him. I was too well mannered to just blow him away, though the thought did cross my mind once, or twice maybe? I did love doing it to him at the cemetery one year ago.

Tara just grunted and made a face. I pulled up the fakest smile in my arsenal and got on with it.

"Hi there Bill."

He tried to grab my hand but I put both of mine at my back. Bill still settled on trying to grab my elbows.

"You are the sunshine of the room Sookeh! I really can't have enough of you."

"Too much of sunshine can burn you Bill. I thought you knew that!"

Bill's smile faltered for a moment and his face took on a constipated expression, before he expertly wiped his face clean of everything.

_Was he always so conspicuous on his face? I should have noticed…_

Now he switched to a lustful expression. "Nothing that your blood can't fix I am sure."

_Eww creepy!_

"You would never have that again Bill."

"Yeah you heard her. Now buzz off!" Tara chimed in.

Bill turned an angry gaze to Tara and his voice became lusty to chilly in five seconds. "I'd like to remind you that you are younger than me by a lot and it would be better if you kept your ill-mannered self out of this conversation. This is between Sookeh and me."

And he turned to me again. I swear he changed expressions like a bored ADHD'ed teenager flipping TV channels.

Tara took on her confrontational stance, hand on a hip, head tilted and eyebrow up.

_Uh oh_…

"Just who do you think you are mister well-mannered white ass vampire? I might be younger, but I don't fuckin' go about killing innocent people on a happy hour. I bet we can't say the same for you. If you call them manners, then I sure as hell don't want any."

I have worked at a redneck bar all my life and know when trouble starts brewing so I knew where this particular conversation was headed. You see, Tara is confrontational, stubborn, protective and now she is a vampire too. Bill is overbearing, antiquated and stubborn, confrontational and possessive too. Not a good combination. I was about to pull Tara away from where we were standing in an effort to cool her down when I felt another head approaching.

_Alcide!_

_An angry Alcide!_

_Not good!_

He came up from behind me and put a hand at my waist to pull me roughly up to him. I was flushed tight to his side and tucked under his arm. Right then, I felt more like being claimed by a primordial ape rather than a wolf. The ape, that hadn't even looked at me all evening and was now staring daggers at Bill.

"Problem _vampire_?" I swear he made the word vampire sound like a bad swear word.

"You are part of the problem, _wolf_!" _Wolf is a swear word too? Huh…who knew? _"Sookie and I were talking before being disturbed by you imbeciles." He glances at both Tara and Alcide.

"The fuck Bill! Sookie has been clear of _vampire_ since a year." _So vampire was a disease too_…" I let Tara and Jessica talk to her because she is their friend or something." _What!_ "But _you _are coming nowhere near her. We made it absolutely clear at that God Awful Bon Temps mixer."

Before I could ask Alcide just what the hell did he mean by the '_allow Tara and Jessica to talk to me_' crap, Tara beat me to it.

"Just what the hell do you mean _allow _us to talk to Sookie? You her bloody _warden_ now?"

_Thank God for childhood friends…_

I couldn't be left behind for the life of me… "Yes Alcide! Just what the hell do you mean by that?"

Alcide turned his stink eyes at me. "It means that you are mine! Now please keep quite till I sort this out with these vampires and you and I will have a talk later."

_Oh no he didn't_...

Alcide's fists were clenched and he was just a hair's breadth away from having a growly fit.

Tara was snarling.

Bill was making hissy eyes at Tara, threatening eyes at Alcide and some kind of undecipherable eyes at me.

And they had totally killed my buzz…Not to mention I was still pinned tightly under Alcide's armpit.

I stepped from under Alcide and turned so I was facing all three of them and whisper yelled.

"I belong to nobody! Do you understand me? I am my own person. And how dare both of you insult my friend Tara? She has been around long before you two were even on the horizon of my life and going by that standard, I _belong_ with Tara much more than I do with either of you. _Jesus Christ_! Are you guys going to have a pissing contest now?"

Alcide stepped right in front of me and looked threatening. I could not shrink back because he was holding my shoulders in a death grip. "You don't know jackshit about supes do you? The only reason you can prance around freely in your precious Bon Temps with your precious friends is because for the other supes, _I _have already _claimed_ you. You think you can go on one night without getting attacked by some vampire if I didn't stand in front of you?"

The thing about a werewolf bully is that he remains happy while you keep within the lines he draws. The moment you start questioning those lines, everything becomes a matter of ego for him and then he does not fool around with things like the other person's feelings. But coming to think about it, had the other men in my life been all that different?

Bill, the first one, was still delusional and thought he held some part of my heart. And that is after using me, draining me to half death, lying to me to high heaven and calling me names. He still insists that he loves me though! If what he has for me is love in his eyes, then I'll be god damned…

Warlow, the last one, went all caveman on me when I tried to ask him for some time to accept my future as a fae-vamp. He had to be killed to get him off my back. You get the picture!

Alcide, the current one, is pissing me off right now and I was seriously sick of being a trophy waiting to be claimed.

Since we are on the topic, there was another…Now he had actually listened to what I was saying and left me alone when I asked for time and space. Why did he go and why did I send him away?

Coming back from my man trouble musings, I was facing a very angry Alcide, who had finally come to growling, _at me_, after hurling a shitload of stupidity to my face. This was it then! The moment of truth…Either I fall in line to appease the bully in the schoolyard and keep backing down. Or I fess up.

I had tried backing down to keep the peace for far too long. I seriously didn't need that much load on my shoulders all the time. Alcide was clutching my shoulders quite firmly and I was scared I'd have light bruises by the end of the evening.

So much for looking pretty and trying to enjoy a night without guy issues!

I gritted my teeth and looked him dead in the eyes.

"You are hurting me Alcide. Let go…" I was surprised at how calm I sounded.

I guess Alcide was surprised too. He let go of my arms and I promptly took a step back to put more distance between us. He didn't let go of the argument though. _Too bad!_

"You are mine!"

Bill chose that moment to jump on the claim Sookie train and declared quite triumphantly "She will never belong to another as she belonged to me."

_The straw broke the camel's back!_

"Oh shut the fuck up you two and back off!"

Alcide growled and took another step towards me, so did Bill towards Alcide, and so did Tara towards me, probably to save me from the pissing contest.

I nervously staggered back and my heel caught into the hem of my long gown. I would have gone down but someone put a steadying hand on the small of my back and gently grabbed my left arm to hold me up.

"You heard the lady. Back off!"

My heart jumped to my throat and I forgot to breathe. I knew that voice. I knew those hands. Boy did I know those hands!

Did the whole room just shift its axis?

Was I finally having my long due meltdown?

I didn't realize I wasn't breathing till I felt light headed and the room swam in front of my eyes. Eric removed his hand from my back and snaked his arm around my waist to firmly hold me and keep me standing on my feet. I felt his head bend down to my shoulder for a moment and he inhaled deeply, before whispering in my ear. "Breathe Sookie…_Breathe_!"

...


	8. Chapter 8 Hope Floats

**Sookie's POV**

"You heard the lady. Back off!"

My heart jumped to my throat and I forgot to breathe. I knew that voice. I knew those hands. Boy did I know those hands!

Did the whole room just shift its axis?

Was I finally having my long due meltdown?

I didn't realize I wasn't breathing till I felt light headed and the room swam in front of my eyes. Eric removed his hand from my back and snaked his arm around my waist to firmly hold me and keep me standing on my feet. I felt his head bend down to my shoulder for a moment and he inhaled deeply, before whispering in my ear. "Breathe Sookie…_Breathe_!"

_Yeah! I was definitely having my long due meltdown!_

I looked up and saw that while Alcide had been growling before, he had now whipped up a full blown temper tantrum and was trying to shoot daggers at Eric, with his eyes. Through gritted teeth, he managed to sputter, "Get your hands off my woman _Vampire_!"

Something snapped within me…

I placed my hand on top of Eric's, resting on my stomach, and pressed it slightly. He tilted his hand and I entwined my fingers with his. Eric leaned in and pulled me back imperceptibly, so that my back was flush against him. He probably didn't know it, but to me, that slight sign of support meant so much at that moment. A sigh left my lips, but I controlled the single tear that was threatening to fall from my eye.

I couldn't tear up now.

It was time to be strong.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then I looked at him levelly and told him in as much of a calm voice as I could manage. "We need to talk!"

Alcide was still fuming. "Damn right we need to talk." But he was not looking at me. He was looking at Eric.

_Shit!_

Eric's suddenly straightened and loosened his grip on my hand, I guess giving me an out if I wanted. It touched a chord in my heart that he was still trying to keep his word to stay away from my life. I felt like I had put another piece of my life's puzzle in the right place. It just felt right the right piece.

I dug my fingers in his hand and held it to me in a death grip. We were so close that I was the only one that heard him sigh quietly as I held on to him.

That's about the time when I realized the whole room had gone silent and everybody was staring at us.

I felt him lower his face to my hair and inhale deeply. Then he nodded.

**..**

**Eric's POV**

I heard the entire damn conversation. I knew Thalia wanted to go and strangle Bill for overstepping the restraining order she put on him, concerning Sookie. She was just controlling her urge in deference to my presence and the event. I, on the other hand, was grasping at the straws on controlling my anger and everything being thrown at Sookie. I knew Sookie could be maddening at times, but this was certainly not any way to speak to her. When she asked what the hell the dog meant by allowing Tara and Jessica to talk to her, I had a similar question boiling inside me._ Yeah, what the hell indeed!_

However, my control ran out when the bloody mutt flat out lied to Sookie that she was safe from vampires only because he stood guard…

_What the fuck!_

I had gotten a _fucking edict_ issued that protected the fairies and Sookie by default. I had Thalia see to Sookie's safety in case the rogue vampires attacked her. I knew Niall had put all kinds of wards around her house and her workplace to keep her protected. Sookie was safe. I would never leave her unprotected.

Was Alcide really that big a prick?

I turned and walked towards their small group when Sookie told Billy and Alcide to go fuck themselves…_Sounded like_ _fucking music to my ears…_ I didn't have to think much about why I enjoyed her words so much or why they aroused me. It was simple. Everything the minx did got a rise out of me…

Anything…

Anger…Lust…Hunger…Frustration…

Yeah…she affected me that much…

Still affected me that much…

My arms acted on their own when they caught her from tripping on her own dress. So did my mouth as I smirked and repeated her musical words to the two idiotic suitors posturing for her. Didn't they ever learn how she would react to a pissing contest? But then again, where Sookie was concerned, such things just happened, all on their own.

When I touched her, I felt all of my blood come alive and warm up. It was similar to what I had felt when I woke up this evening, only this time, it was five times more in magnitude. I had been sure before and this just confirmed it. I didn't know how it happened, but the bond that Sookie and I started in her home, in the cubby, had certainly come to life again. I had thought it withered as time went by and since the last two years, I hadn't felt it at all. But it came rushing back as I touched Sookie and it brought a rush of feelings with it. I could feel her. Feeling her familiar presence again was so cathartic, I didn't even concentrate on what exactly she was feeling at that point. I just reveled in the fact that I could feel each and every emotion going through her and suddenly I felt dizziness. That is when I realized that Sookie was not breathing at all.

_Shit! What's wrong!_

She was feeling euphoria, anger, lust, possessiveness and longing, all at the same time and it confused the hell out of me. How can one individual feel so many conflicting emotions all at once? No wonder she was feeling dizzy! I could not resist deeply inhaling her divine scent after so long. Gods she smelt so good! Not knowing what else to do, I tried to relax her and coax her to breathe.

I had just wanted to save her from the fall. Now I didn't know how I was going to remove my hands from her.

But, she had been claimed by a werewolf, who was currently staking his claim, very volubly, for everyone to hear…

As furious as I was at Alcide's crude challenge to me, I knew Sookie was his, as long as she chose him over anyone else, and he had a right to stake that claim over her. We were standing in the middle of representatives from all the supernatural communities from my states, along with members from the Supernatural Council. I wanted to fight the wolf, to wipe off his existence from the face of the Earth and claim Sookie as my own, but I could not do so without her express wish. It was against our own rules and I needed to uphold those rules. And she had walked away from me a long time ago…

Just as I was struggling with myself on letting her go, she put her small warm hand on top of mine and my hand turned off its own accord, weaving my fingers with hers. I could not even begin to admit how much her small gesture meant to me and I wanted to savor that intimate touch for as long as possible before I had to let her go. Maybe she was lessening the blow for me, the blow of letting her go, again. I pulled her back a tiny bit and leaned in to share a last half embrace with her.

I could feel resolve and determination as well as love and longing flowing through her and inferred what that may mean. She loved Alcide. I fucking hated it. But she loved him. She chose him. And I needed to walk away. She would turn any second, thank me for saving her from the fall and then turn her back to me again. It still warmed my cold dead heart that she needed to steel her resolve like that to ask me to let go. I remembered the last time that happened and the utter devastation she had in her heart after doing that. So I needed to do the right thing by her. I would not join the posturing contest that was going on and I would walk away gracefully. Not because I didn't want to compete with the fools in line, but because Sookie didn't want that contest to happen. It would haunt me later but I could spare her that mortification. I straightened out as I decided to let go and started to pry my hand from hers.

I expected her to straighten up and walk away. I expected her to walk right to Alcide. However, Sookie Stackhouse has been and remains the most troublesome, confusing conundrum of my undead life.

She dug her nails in my hand, so hard that she drew out a drop of my blood.

_Did she really just do that?_

_Did she refuse to go to Alcide and held on to my hand by choice? _

_Did she really draw out blood from me? Did she know that in doing so she just chose me as her protector?_

I knew Sookie didn't know the fine points in supe etiquette but I didn't have time to explain it to her now. Alcide was challenging me publically. Over Sookie…Who held on to my hand and told him to go away. If Alcide didn't back the hell down, I would have to attack and his pack would have to defend him and then my vampires would have to attack the wolves that were attacking me. I could feel Sigebert and Wybert flanking me like a wall. Those two alone were enough for each and every wolf present. If I backed down now, it would be a show of weakness in front of the entire supernatural community from two states. More importantly, I never backed down from a challenge.

If the stupid wolf didn't stop growling, I would kill him to prove a point to everyone. I didn't want to do it because I knew whatever Sookie had done was not intentional and although Alcide understood the repercussions of challenging a vampire king over a mate who refused to stand with him, Sookie would never forgive herself for getting him killed by mistake.

I sighed…

One step to save her from falling down and I was drawn into a brewing strife between vampires and werewolves…She was so much trouble!

I needed to diffuse the situation somehow. I caught Niall's eye and nodded to him. He came forward and politely dipped his head once before bringing his hand up for Sookie. "Would you care to get a drink with your old man great granddaughter? It really is _hot_ in here…"

Sookie looked at me, her eyes and mind filled with confusion at Niall's sudden invitation. I gently caressed her cheek with my fingertips and she half closed her eyes and leaned into the touch.

_Sookie Stackhouse really never did the expected! But this felt good…_

I smiled and nudged her towards Niall. "Go…It's alright. Everything is alright."

She nervously glanced at the dozen vampires standing all around us in offensive positions and almost all the werewolves stepping forward stealthily, building defenses in case things turned ugly. She seemed to understand some of the crisis that was happening around her and looked at me with worry written all over her face "What is happening Eric?"

This could go seriously wrong and she could be caught between the gore. I needed her out of there… quickly, without asking questions. I knew it was futile and I knew she would be stubborn and would surely ask her twenty questions. Still I took a chance and held both her hands in mine and pleaded with her through my eyes when I said. "Trust me. Go…"

To my utter surprise and relief, she nodded and gently squeezed my hands before stepping away from me.

One step…

Two steps…

And then "I trust you."

My eyes went wide at her admission.

Still looking into my eyes, she took Niall's hand as he pulled her safely out of the circle of my guards. I waited for her to reach at the back of the room and glanced at Tara to go on and join her. Another surprise for me there when Tara didn't argue and silently went to stand slightly in front of Sookie.

I shifted my gaze to Alcide and let all restraint at anger fall away.

"Miss Stackhouse has the right to choose who she wants to be with. She currently chooses to stand with her people and the head of her family. Vampires have not threatened the wolves. You don't need to stir trouble."

Alcide maintained his stance. Tension and nervous energy spread through the room. Everyone became alert…

An older were' stepped forward towards us, cutting through the crowd of werewolves around and I recognized him to be Colonel Flood, the new pack master of the Shreveport Were pack, to which Alcide belonged. When I met him a year back, he came across as a level headed man, world wise and war hardened. I could grow to like him over time. This was his hour to shine too. Either he would do the usual short sighted thing, support Alcide and get most of his pack killed when it came to a fight. Or he could look at the situation in its entirety and accept that there was no point in fighting over Sookie when she had clearly refused to stand with the wolves, and save the blood of his pack from being spilt at the hands of the vampires.

We nodded at each other and Flood put a hand on Alcide's shoulder. "You will step back Alcide."

_Thank God for the few grownups in the group…_

Alcide growled and grunted and kept standing there, staring at me. Flood took him by his forearm and dragged him back, slowly, as everyone watched, out of the room. A few weres took after them and the remaining ones slowly dispersed from their defensive positions. I nodded at my vampire guard and they relaxed their stance.

_One down, one to go…_

During the whole exchange, Bill Compton had the most amusing half constipated and half triumphant look on his face. As soon as Flood dragged Alcide out, Compton started inching towards the side of the room where Sookie stood with Niall and Tara, no doubt to gloat and stick his claim on her.

He was exasperating to the nth degree.

I saved this up for him for the last.

"Thalia, show Mr. Compton our newly refurbished guest chambers in the basement."

Bill froze and looked at me with trepidation. "Eric?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, silently challenging him to speak one word out of line. He held his tongue. I knew he didn't have it in him to challenge a stronger foe when he was far outnumbered. Thalia stepped forward and pushed him slightly to get him moving. Jessica started to move towards her maker but Sigebert reached out and held her by her shoulder. I saw to it that Bill cleared out of the room and then smirked at a few guests that were still staring at me. Andre glanced at me and then signaled at the band to start playing again.

Breath by small breath, the mood shifted again and everybody went back to mingling, chatting and having a good time.

..

..

Sookie was dancing a slow dance with Niall and both of them were glowing with a soft yellow light. The almost fight two hours ago notwithstanding, each and every supe looked fascinated by the two and was eyeing them surreptitiously. I could see how many vampires had their fangs down.

All evening I tried to keep my distance and went through and picked at everything Sookie had said and done in my mind. She looked at me every once in a while and I could see sadness in her eyes. I also felt sadness from her; Sadness and longing and regret.

To be honest, there was a small part of my mind that kept saying that Sookie wanted me and she opened our blocked bond again because she now felt the same things for me that she used to feel when we started the bond. But that was a very small hopeful part.

The bigger, older and more cynical part of me said that maybe she was sad because of the fight that happened over her and was regretting getting Alcide sent away. How I wished I was telepathic and could read her thoughts.

I could not risk being wrong about her and make assumptions. I would not survive unscathed if I hoped for something and then she walked away again. Even if she clung to me in front of Alcide, there was a very good chance that she had just wanted to get rid of him and I walked in to catch her at the right time.

To be fair, this time, I needed her to walk up to me and say it if she wanted us to be together. I needed her to walk that distance in her heart. I needed her to be absolutely sure about us. I wanted her to come to me when she was sure. I knew I'd be there when she was ready. But she needed to be ready for me. I couldn't stand her conflicted feelings for me. I couldn't take it if she told me I'd have to share her love with anyone else.

No, this time Miss Stackhouse really needed to choose and till the time she didn't, I needed to keep my distance.

I made sure to appear engrossed with all my guests and took time to get to know each and every one present there. I made sure I sized up every supe present and since I was very good at reading everyone, except of course fairies, I collected a lot of useful details. It lasted a while. Two hours to be precise. Then Sookie decided to dance and her light started shining through. I didn't realize I was walking towards her till I was standing two steps away from Sookie and Niall. Niall looked at me and I hope he didn't see how hopeless I must be looking right then. In an effort to save face, I hastily asked to dance with her.

"May I cut in Niall?"

Niall looked at Sookie who seemed surprised by my sudden appearance. "Care to dance with me Miss Stackhouse?"

Her eyes lost focus for a second when she looked up at me. She turned to Niall and graciously bowed out from their dance. Niall smiled at her and nodded at me before leaving the two of us on the dance floor. Then she turned towards me and for a moment I just stood there, drinking in her sight and breathing in my fill of her mesmerizing scent wafting around us. She blushed and her lips quirked up in a small smile. I brushed my fingers over her hands on her sides and ran my hands up her arms, softly travelling up her golden skin. I lingered a moment over her upper arms, where slight bruises were already forming from being held roughly before. In that moment I regretted not killing that dog when I had the chance. She seemed to hear my thoughts as I stood rooted there and gently took hold of my left hand and placed it on her back. Then she took hold of my right hand in hers and stepped towards me in an embrace, never breaking eye contact.

She was in my arms again. The band started playing the next song and the singers started singing 'Truly Deeply Madly' as we began to dance to the lilting music, completely in tune with each other and completely oblivious of the others around us. In that moment, I felt her within me, truly, deeply and madly. For that moment I let go of all control, all façades, all pretenses and all past hurt. I wanted to cherish that moment with her and when she looked at me with a storm in her eyes, I knew that maybe that small hopeful part of my mind, still had its chance.

..


	9. Chapter 9 Sleepless

**Sookie's POV**

Eric tenderly ran his fingertips over my arms, where I had started to bruise already, courtesy the ape man I was fool enough to fool around with, and I saw his jaw clench. My heart skipped a frantic beat, before continuing its happy race against time and suddenly I got the feeling that he could be thinking about going after Alcide to pick the proper fight he was raring to go for earlier, when he had to let the wolves drag their errant child from the party. A part of me wanted him to do exactly that out of spite and embarrassment of being made a spectacle off, in the middle of so many onlookers. But as soon as my vindictive side raised its head much, something else choked it right there and then, something that wanted Eric with me there…The same thing, that couldn't pass up on the opportunity to dance with him…The same thing that couldn't let go of the few moments I could get with him, before he had to go do whatever he was doing for two whole hours before turning up, asking for a dance.

Why I even had this side after pushing him away all my life? I honestly did not know.

No I could not miss up on this so before Eric could so much as take one step away from me, I again took hold of his hands and guided him to an intimate dancing pose. I guess the band had some kind of empathy thing going on because they started performing the song that always had me swooning. Yes I wanted to do all those things that the chorus was singing about. It didn't take me much brain cells to come up with a face to have that fantasy with.

At this point, there really was no one else.

At this point, I really didn't want anyone else.

There was just Eric…

The realization hit me like a wrecking ball. My eyes automatically went to his face, to his eyes and saw the longing, the adoration, the fear, the regret burning in them. I knew I could not be glamored, Eric knew I could not be glamored, but right then I felt Eric's eyes subsume all my faculties, break all my barriers and knock down all the doors I had erected around my heart over the years. Yes just his eyes could do that to me. He pulled me out of my innermost hiding place and took me within him, consuming me whole.

And I wanted to never come back.

This was the reason I was always afraid to open my heart to him.

This was the reason I backed away and hid. The reason I had to rip my heart from my chest and probably ripped out his dead heart too.

I hated him for the power he had over me, if I let him get away with it… of what I would do for him if he only asked.

I was scared…

I hated myself for being scared…for not feeling enough for this overwhelming being…for feeling I shouldn't be scared if I loved him enough…for feeling my love would not be enough for him.

But, I still loved him, in my own fucked up way….

I loved him and I hated myself…

Someone called Eric from behind me and then added. "Well if that isn't our trouble stirrer tinkerbell again…Haven't mastered the disappearing act yet have you?"

I felt Eric tighten his hold on me for a second before he un-wrapped his arms from around me and stepped back. I instantly felt bereft without his comforting touch and looked up a tad disappointed with myself and resented him for moving away.

His voice was as gentle as ever. "Excuse me Miss Stackhouse. I need to get to some urgent business."

I turned and greeted Pam, as politely as I could, which was tough given how she had burst my little bubble of almost happiness. "Hey there Pam. Polite as always I see."

Pam smirked. "I learnt my politeness from _dad_" She glanced slyly at Eric and then ran her eyes up and down my frame. By the look she was giving me, I knew she was thinking anything but polite thoughts, but then that's Pam, as always. "You do look mouthwatering tonight."

"Pam!" Eric almost barked. I jumped a little at his sudden harsh tone. Hard to believe he had spoken so gently just a second ago.

Pam turned a poker face at Eric and responded in a flat voice. "You are expected at your meeting in five minutes."

Eric nodded at her slightly and then turned to stand in front of me, blocking Pam from my view. He didn't have to do that because he was wearing a formal black tuxedo and he could stand anywhere he wanted, my eyes would still look only at him. I don't believe I had seen him in a tux before. No, I had not and no, I wouldn't forget if I had. There is no way a girl could forget how that jacket hugged that body.

When I could tear my eyes away to look into his eyes again, he was smirking and his left eyebrow was already questioning my roaming gaze, with mirth of course.

"See anything you like?"

I somehow remembered exactly where I had heard him say the same thing before.

_Fangtasia…basement…chains…_

I blushed from toe tips right up to my hair, but couldn't look away. I couldn't form a coherent sentence either. Eric's smirk dissolved into a rare smile. He touched his fingertips to my cheeks and slowly moved his hand till his big palm covered half of my face and his fingers were in my hair, gently pressing on my head to tilt it up.

Pam mock coughed from behind him and I nervously glanced at his shoulder.

"Look at me min älskare."

I looked and I was trapped. There was no way I was getting away from those eyes. Not that I wanted to get far anyways…

My internal rambling was brought to a swift halt as he lowered his face and tenderly touched his lips to my cheek. He lingered there for a whole breath and then very slowly, he took a step back from me, still holding my gaze. "Take care of yourself."

He was saying goodbye…_Already?_

I could only manage a whisper out of my constricting throat… "You too…"

He started turning around and I could not stop myself from asking aloud. "You live in New Orleans now?"

He stopped but didn't look at me. "Yes I do…"

My spirits fell at his response but I still needed something to hold on to. I couldn't go on without something to hold on to. "I'll see you ...uh... around? I guess?"

"It depends"

Damn vampires and their cryptic responses. "On what?"

He glanced at me, his patent smirk again in place, "Good evening Miss Stackhouse. It was my pleasure, as always…" he bowed with a flourish and walked away with Pam, to wherever it was he needed to go.

..

..

Long after we were back at the hotel and long after everyone went to bed, I still lay sleepless on my beautiful huge bed. I knew I had been staring at the paint on the ceiling for far too long, but I didn't know what else to do.

I was finally reaping all the fruits of my mistakes over the years. And the fruits were bitter.

My heart's desire had been standing right in front of me, and before this night, this day, this trip, I didn't even realize he meant so much to me.

When I first met Eric Northman, I was fascinated by the pull he had over me. That and some lust that I killed in the bud before it could wreak havoc in my life. Eric was gorgeous but I was with Bill after all. Then when Eric tricked me into drinking his blood, I was terrified that he would feel me and that my cover was blown. I didn't even think how his own cover story of being a ruthless cold vampire sheriff was blown for me on the rooftop when Godric met the sun. The way Eric looked at me after that incident told me he knew exactly what I was trying to suppress within myself. Whenever he came in front of me, Bill or no Bill, it always became a conflict of feelings for me, with my attraction towards him always warring with my caution. We went through so much together. I saw so much of the real person hidden behind all his careful facades. I always got him. I always understood what he did, even if it took me some time to come to terms with it. And even if I keep on denying it, he always got me too. I was just too chicken to own up to it.

I clearly remember the night I walked out on him. The night I ripped my heart out of my chest and still the pain I saw in his eyes was way more than what I felt inside me. He never meant to show it. And he never dropped his shields with me after that. I don't think he ever got the chance to mourn what he lost that night. Hell, even I didn't get that chance. But truth remains that that night we lost a chance at something either of us might never have again…

All those years led to this night when all I could do was stand in the corner and look at him, as he graciously met and talked to his guests, being the perfect host he was supposed to be. Everyone was gravitating towards him, vying for his attention. I felt an impossible longing at my core when I saw random women smiling and fawning over him. It was exactly like being at Fangtasia for the very first time, all over again. Just when that pang of yearning hit me, Eric had looked right across the room and his eyes had found mine. He didn't stop speaking whatever it was that he had been speaking before looking at me and when I felt self-conscious and looked away, he had still been looking at me.

I touched my cheek where he had kissed me and my fingers still tingled. I was no innocent. I had seen, heard and done things most people never even dream about. But his one small kiss seared through my skin and went right through to my core.

I sighed and got out of bed. There was no way I was falling asleep tonight and I might as well do something else for distraction. I felt in my head around for my other fairies in the suite and was quite surprised to find that I was alone in the huge suite. I switched on some lamps in the sitting area and found a note placed on the center table. I hurried to it.

_Sookie, _

_I need to attend to some business…Will be back later…_

_-Great granddaddy_

Well gee! Wasn't everyone attending to some business tonight? I felt a mild annoyance at being left alone. First it was Eric, now Niall. _Seems like it is just I who has nothing to do but stare at ceilings_.

I whipped out my phone and called Tara. She answered after three rings. "Bitch I am busy!"

_Yeah hello to you too _"Good for you Tara. I am sure you have some _business _to attend to?" I couldn't help the biting edge to my words.

"Huh? What crawled up your ass?"

"Let me think…Oh yes, I just broke up with a jerk in front of a zillion people…My family is too busy for me…It is four in the morning and I haven't had a wink of sleep…I have stared at a stupid ceiling all night and now the only person I can call is busy too!"

Tara let out an uncharacteristic sigh. "Yeah that's fucked! Wanna talk about it?"

I wanted to still be angry but Tara didn't need to be on the receiving side and so I ended up sounding morose instead. "I don't know. Are you available to listen?"

Tara chuckled and I heard her telling someone to leave the room. "So you did get a date, didn't you? I am the only looser who spent a shit load of money to look perfect, had people fighting over her and still left alone."

"Tol' ya to change teams…Guys are just not worth all the crap they pull!"

"Ha ha...Like I don't now!"

"And don't even try to throw a pity party here over your break up. You looked pretty cozy with grand pops afterwards!"

"Tara! I was not…"

"Nuh uh! Don't lie Stackhouse…If that's how you been checking out that old piece of ass, I am surprised the dog didn't throw a fit before."

"It's not like I spend my days checking him out Tara…For the record, I saw him after about a year and a month or so."

"_Yeah? _So you wanted to mope on your break up or did you want to talk about grand pops? It's not like you were counting the days since when you hadn't seen his majesty or somethin'!"

"Cut it out Tara! Stop calling him names already!"

"AM not! He _is_ grand pops and he _is_ his majesty!"

"Shut up! What do you mean he is _his majesty_? Last I knew, Bill was the king of wherever."

"Didn't nobody tell you? Eric Northman is the fuckin' king of Louisiana and Mississippi now. This whole shindig is about his getting to meet all alien non humans of two states, you included. We weren't supposed to say anything about it before now. But it is out there for the world now."

_What? _

I didn't know what to think and I didn't know what to say…Eric? King? Since when?

"Sook?"

_And how do you react to that?_

"Stackhouse?"

"Uh yeah Tara? I am here…"

"I don't think so…You alright there?"

"Yes Tara and someday I am going to whoop your ass for not telling me earlier…"

"Tell you what?"

_Uhhh…_ "About Eric ofcourse!"

"Oh yeah! So we are still talking about grand pops and not about how you are drownin' in your tears over the break up."

_Busted!_

"Yeah…I am _drownin'_ in tears...I am holding a knife over my wrist and as soon as I am done getting the latest town gossip from you, I'll cut myself up and lie here in a pool of my fairy dust." I grumbled.

Tara chuckled again. She certainly was in a good mood. "Don't waste your fairy dust on the hotel rug! I know a few people who would hold it against the rug for getting all the goods."

"Phhhbbttt…._Bitch_!"

"_Hooker_!"

I grinned. My first one since I came back from the party. "_Fanger_!"

"_Bloodbag_!"

"_Leach!"_

"_Breather!"_

I laughed aloud. "I miss you Tara…I miss gran, Jason, you…Do you remember when we used to have sleepovers on school nights and smuggle Jason's beer into my room to drink and sputter and puke out? We used to be brushing our teeth for hours after that so that gran won't smell anything…Why can't we ever go back to those times again?"

"Yeah those were good days…But hell, I don' wanna go back to my crazy mom again. We can't go back Sook!"

I sighed again, for the hundredth time. "Yeah I know! I just wish everything was good and happy and sunny again. I am tired of all this shit that keeps hitting the roof!"

"I know! Hey wait…say what…there is still two hours to sunrise! What do you say to a sleepover with your vampire girlfriend? I can get hold of beer and blood…"

I felt a small flicker of excitement. "Can we do that?"

"Of course we can! We won't even have to lie around for the beer!"

"Tara it is four fifteen in the morning"

"Yeah and you aren't sleeping and I am a fanger and can't sleep! So what the hell?"

"Ok! What the hell! Where?"

"That's my girl! I am sending a car to fetch you…And I'll meet you here…"

"You're sending a _car_ Tara?"

Tara did a mock scoff… "Don't fuck with royalty hooker! Just get your ass here as soon as you can…You don't need to pack anything. And since it's a sleepover, you can turn up in pajamas…"

I jumped up from the couch I was lounging on and started towards my bedroom to throw on wrapper and my flip flops. "Ok see ya!"

"See ya!"

Inspite of what Tara said, I did pack a bag with a change of clothes and underwear, a hairbrush and my toothbrush and I was ready for my slumber party…Ten minutes later I got a call from the hotel front desk that my ride had arrived. I quickly left another note on the coffee table to tell Niall where I was going and went downstairs with my small overnight bag and my purse. Finally I was going somewhere too...


	10. Chapter 10 The sword and the Dagger

**Eric's POV**

Dawn was coming soon and I had just finished up the meeting with the other monarchs and their reps. It had just dragged on and on. It took all my patience and sense of responsibility to sit through it all, because after a dance with Sookie, I was a lost cause. All this time, I had kept my distance from Bon Temps because I knew this would happen. I knew the moment I had her in my arms again, I would be hopeless. For all the moving on speeches I always had on standby in my head, my heart was one conflicted, possessed hot mess.

Pam knew what exactly was going on with me and treated me all evening with her personal arsenal of lethal eye rolls and smirks. I had to command her to not say anything about Sookie for me to even try to do my tasks for the night. The distraction in my rambling head was enough. I didn't need added reminders. Willa was just plain confused. She could feel the raw emotion I was feeling and it was hard for her to comprehend that many conflicting emotions and make sense of them. So she tried to avoid me as much as she could for the evening.

_Find me the wise man who said that women were the emotional species of our lot!_

Because here I was being downright pathetic! And the women in my life were perplexed by it…

S_he_ wasn't leaving me alone either. I noticed a tug in my blood and felt Sookie getting nearer and nearer to me by the minute. Out of nowhere, a genuine smile appeared on my perfect poker face. Belatedly I realized that I had smiled at the vampire in my office, who I was currently giving a cold treatment to. Said vampire sat up and looked expectantly towards me.

_Crap! I wasn't supposed to smile at this one!_

"So you'll consider my offer? It will really be the best for both of us…"

"I am still building up my states Freyda. We are all neck deep in shit. This is no time to think about this sort of…_arrangement!"_

She placed her elbows on the desk and leaned towards me. "You are not seeing the bigger picture Eric. You know my sway with Arkansas. If we do this, Texas will never think about a coup. We would both be stable and powerful."

I pinched my nose to gather my wits for this conversation. Sookie's growing proximity was not helping my focus and I tried to push her thoughts aside to concentrate on what the vampire queen of Oklahoma was saying.

Arkansas was ruled by Freyda's maker Stan Davis. Even though I was internally cringing at her proposal of entering a marriage contract to consolidate state lines, I still needed more information to make any decision and I had to let her down very carefully to avoid two angry neighbors.

"What do you have on Texas?"

"Nothing but intelligence and fore sight, which I know you do not lack in either. You know I've never had a marriage alliance before. Part of the reason is that I know how to protect my state and to keep ahead of any mischief. The other part is that there are a very few vampires that I can respect with _actual_ brains on them. _You_ are one of them."

I gave her a very dry smile, not like the previous one at all. "You seem to know me well. You also know I am much older than you or your maker and have seen a lot more world than both of you put together. What is making you trust me enough to want this contract with me?"

Freyda smiled and looked at Eric for a while before answering. "I may be a lot younger than you are. But that means much more sense of security to me than a sense of threat. You will get two secure neighbors in return. Plus, I am almost perfect at gambling. I can spot a winning chip when there is one. The stakes are high for both of us here. Think it over Eric." She stood up and walked towards the exit. On reaching the door, she turned back, a small smirk playing on her lips, "Oh and one more thing. This _contract _is nothing personal. The doors of Oklahoma are wide open for any _fairies_ or _half fairies_ that would like to visit."

_God dammit…Was I that fucking obvious? And what the hell is she insinuating? Maybe she was just groping in the dark…_

I could not let her see that her remark had affected me and controlled my expression before giving her my own parting smirk, knowing full well she was not immune to my charm. "They usually are very _busy_ within _my_ doors… Good night Freyda."

She waved her hand and nodded before closing the door and leaving.

At about the same time, I felt Sookie enter within the confines of my residence.

_Good timing lover! Let's go receive visitors…_

Just as I got up to leave my office, one of the Ancient Pythoness's hand maidens came up and bowed to me. "The High Priestess requests a word with your majesty…"

What caught me here was the odd timing of the request. The ancient one usually reserved the early part of dawn for her rituals and meditation. No one, and I mean no one, was allowed an audience at that time. "Right now?"

"Right now"

"Very well…Lead the way…"

_What could she possibly want to say to me?_

Perplexed and curious, I made my feet follow the hand maiden while my blood was following someone else around my home and my hands wanted to follow my blood.

**Sookie's POV**

The car, a freaking limousine, took me back to that huge beautiful place I visited earlier in the evening. I seriously didn't know what to call it. I could certainly not call it a house or even a manor or something because the _thing_ probably spanned a couple of blocks. It had several interconnected buildings and was surrounded by lush green grounds. I could call it a palace because a king lived there. Or I could just call it by its damn zip code!

Tara met the car just inside the gates and climbed in with me. She came with my welcome drink of gin and tonic…

_Ahhh happy times…_

I drained my drink and declared theatrically, "Tara you are my true friend…" much to the amusement of the vampire driver.

"You drunk already?"

"Nope! But I am hung-over on lack of sleep…I may need one of you all's light tight rooms today cuz my head feels like someone hammered it and I am going to sleep like the dead when I go down."

Tara laughed and led the way.

..

The good thing about drinking with vampire BFFs is that they would remain alert enough to not let you fall in a ditch or get rid of your clothes or something silly like that…

The bad thing is that by the time I was inebriated and laughing and falling all over the place, it was dawn and Tara was dead for the day. I knew I was smashed because seeing Tara dead like that was sending me into peals of laughter I could not control.

_Shit!_ I was giggling so hard that I couldn't even breathe. My sides were aching, my head was swimming and I could see two Tara's when I shut one eye and looked with just one. That sent me into another fit of laughter.

I got up to use the bathroom and splashed my face with cold water to get out of the fit. The water felt so good, I dunked my head in the basin and let my hair get wet. Several splashes and a glass of ice cold water later, I could finally see my face in the mirror, without the additional cross eyed Sookies to make me laugh at my own reflection. I shut off the water and stepped out of Tara's room to look for some open space to clear my head. It took just ten minutes for my drunken ass to get lost in the strange passages…They all looked the same and they were all empty.

I giggled again…In a very spooky manner, it echoed all around me and rang loudly in my head. That did something to my balance and I clutched at the wall to my side to stay on my feet.

_Shit! I need more cold water…_

I wobbled a bit but reached for the door in front of me and shook the knob. The door could have opened to anywhere but as I said before, I was drunk and I needed water and I didn't care. Maybe it was Tara's room or maybe it was a secret portal to Wonderland…Maybe the good natured rabbit would be awake and help me out with a map of this labyrinth or something?

The knob turned and the door opened into a large room, seemingly at the end of the building because I could see part of the grounds outside from the floor to ceiling windows in the farthest corner. It looked like someone's office. There was a huge dark wood desk and a plush leather chair behind the desk.

"S'cuse me? Anyone here?"

No response…

So I called out again. "Nope! No one there!"

Things were twinkling on the window. I blinked my eyes but they were still twinkling. I stepped inside and started towards the glass to see what was twinkling. As I went further inside, I noticed that two walls in the office were entirely made up of huge book shelves, carrying hundreds of books. I turned on my heels and slowly gazed at the entire room. Books on two walls, glass for another wall and the fourth wall was decorated sparsely with just a huge sword. It was fascinating. I decided to investigate the twinkling later and gingerly stepped towards the sword. It was not very high up and I lifted a hand to touch it.

"_Sonofa…"_

The blade was must have been very sharp because I suddenly winced and jumped back as just touching it cut my finger. Bleeding fairy body parts in a vampire city equals drained fairy and drunk vampire, so I quickly put my finger in my mouth to staunch the bleeding. Pain was better than cold water to further clear my head. Suddenly I realized that I was probably in a vampire's office, touching their personal stuff and spilling blood on their belongings.

_What if someone came right now and caught me tresspassin? Shit! I need to get out...What was I thinking?_

I hurried to step back and get out of the room when another voice reached my head and I froze.

"_Please help me…"_

_Adyline? What the hell?_

I was hearing her mind and she was somewhere close by. Maybe I hadn't heard her before, when I was inebriated and stumbling on my feet. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, reaching out to her through my mind.

"_Adyline? Honey? It's Sookie…Where are you? What's wrong?"_

"_Oh thank God! Sookie…Help me…I don't know what to do…"_

"_Where are you Adyline?"_

"_I don't know. I uh…umm don't tell dad…I was just having fun…It went outta hand..."_

She was crying and hysterical and between my sleepless head and drunken ass, I couldn't understand her very well…

And here I was, thinking I'll have a night of drunken abandon, without anything going wrong! What was I thinking really!

"_Adyline calm down…You have to tell me where you are…And what the hell happened?"_

"_I am so sorry Sookie...I snuck out. Dad warned me and made me promise I won't do this but I snuck out and came to that place where we came for the party earlier…with a vampire… when dad slept…But, but, the vampire, Stephen, won't let me go and said something about me being his forever and I told him I am nothing of the sort but he didn't let me go for the night and I liked him a bit and now, uh umm, he is ummm sleeping and it's so dark here that I can't even see my hands in front of me and I can't locate the door and I am stuck…Dad will wake up and find out I am not at the hotel and he is going to kill me or ground me like forever….and then I….Oh Sookie…."_

_Groan! _

"_Hey! Slow down honey…"_

"_Sookie what will I do?"_

_Shit is she crying? How can someone cry in their head?_

"_I am crying and I can cry in my head…You would too if your dad was sheriff and you snuck out with a vampire…Help me…"_

"_Ok ok…just stop crying and let me feel where you are. Can you feel me near you?"_

"_I guess…I heard you cursing in your head and I have been trying to call out but you were not listening before…Are you in the palace as well?"_

"_Yes I am…Now try to calm down and I'll try to locate you…"_

"_Ok…"_

I closed my eyes and concentrated on Adyline and her thought signature. In a moment, I started getting a feel of her location. I started walking towards the general direction where I was feeling her rant, and walked head first into a wall.

"_Fuck!"_

"_Hey! I heard that…"_

"_Yeah long story…"_

"_You sound funny tonight!"_

"_I am drunk…"_

"_Even your thoughts are sounding drunk…"_

"_Hey watch it! Who's the one rescuin' ya?"_

"_Sorry…"_

I just started walking into the general direction of where I could feel Adyline and considering this was not my backyard, and I just had very low and useless ambient lights on the floor to guide my way, I was fast getting lost and frustrated. I completely tuned out everything else from my mind and focused on the lost toddler.

That is how I didn't notice another mind moving towards me at an alarming speed. I was standing at a turn in the corridor and he must not have seen or heard me, because a moment later I was savagely knocked forward on my face, and a panting, growling creature landed heavy on my back. I could have cried out if all of my breath hadn't been knocked out of my lungs and a familiar sword hadn't clanged and dropped in front of my eyes.

_Hey I just saw that thing in that office earlier!_

My mind was invaded by the snarling mess of thoughts, no doubt coming from the grissly sitting on my back, and I could just pick up a few words here and there.

_Bust…growl…growl…need to get away…snarl…snarl…Stealing…can't get caught…_

That was it! So now I had a fleeing thief on my hands too, or, more accurately, on my back. Welcome to a perfect day in the life of Sookie _Dangerho_ Stackhouse!

I tried to move and wiggle but whoever lunged on me, seemed to have realized that I could raise an alarm and get him caught. Before I could raise the said alarm, a large hand came from behind me and pressed on my mouth to affectively gag me. I was pulled roughly on my feet and pinned against the passage wall, both of my hands held in an iron grip behind me. My bones were crushing against the huge weight of the thief, keeping me still. I knew I had surely reached a certain limit to a night's quota of adventure. I was just sick of it all now.

"_Sookie? Sookie what is happening?"_

"_Adyline…I am being attacked…There was a thief…He is holding me tight and I can't move…I think he is going to crush me"_

"_Sookie nooo…Concentrate on your light…Try blasting him with your light…"_

I couldn't breathe… I couldn't see… I certainly couldn't think…

"_Can't move…"_

"_Sookie please hold on…concentrate on your light…You cannot QUIT!"_

I felt a foreign spark of light in my mind. It was coming from the place I was connected in thought to Adyline…It was my last straw in the swirling flood that was taking me down. Desperate for anything to hold on to, I grasped at that thought, that shared spark and held tight. It started to grow inside my head, spreading to my heart and I could feel it spreading to my limbs, to the very ends of my fingers and toes. Just as the light reached my fingers, the weight that was crushing me against the wall was blasted away from me and I could breathe again.

It was not as dark as I thought it was. I could make out the shape of a huge man crumpled on the floor, thrown a few feet from me. He appeared dark and bald and clearly knocked out.

"_Oh my God Adyline, what happened? We just knocked the thief away…"_

"_I felt I was with you…"_

"_I felt the same sweety…it's wonderful and weird and…noooo…no no no."_

"_Sookie?"_

"_He is moving…He is moving again…He is going to kill me…"_

"_Blast him again…"_

I tried summoning my light again but my exertion of the past day and night was showing and my light flickered. My hands shook in terror and I tried summoning my light again but the giant heaved and sat up, his eyes yellow slits in anger. They scared me to my core.

It was one of those moments when you know that this could be the end and after this, you might not be alive any more. I had had my fair share of these moments before. I knew what it was like being there on the brink, the very edge where a single movement could end you or save you. I was standing on that brink again…I knew I wanted to live…I knew I couldn't outrun this giant…And I knew I needed to do this alone because no one was coming to help me.

So I stepped forward and took hold of the stolen sword that had landed in front of me. I didn't know how to fight with a sword but it was sharp and it was my only option. And goddamnit it was heavy! I had to clutch it with both my hands. The tip of the blade was on the floor in front of me, and it must have been almost as long as my body.

_Shit! This isn't going to work! It's too heavy…_

The giant hauled his body up and slowly started to creep towards me. He was being wary, no doubt because of the light blast earlier. I knew I could not show any fear and tried to school my face, years of practice at hiding my emotions, coming to my immediate rescue. The giant stopped short when he looked at my face, and gasped. The change in his thought signature was immediate. From a red swirling hunk of snarls, it turned into a red swirling hunk of lust!

_Uh o!_

A chill ran down my spine and I shivered involuntarily. He closed the distance between us in three strides and looked me right into my eyes as he snatched the sword from my hand. I was struck dumb by his strange purplish eyes and the unnerving look of greed and lust in them. To my utter astonishment, he took a step back and in one lithe move, bowed and darted away, with a parting shock of – "I'll see _you_ again!"

It all happened so fast.

The relief I felt when he just took the sword and went away was so overpowering that I just slumped down to the ground in a daze. Maybe it was just the adrenaline but my hang-over was gone. My head ache was gone too. I could see again and I was seeing just one of everything.

"_Sookie? You ok?"_

"_Yes Adyline…And I'm not drunk anymore…"_

"_What happened?"_

"_He ran away…"_

"_Just like that?"_

"_With the sword! Shit he took the sword…"_

"_What sword Sookie?"_

"_That sword from the office…But he left me alone. He didn't kill me…Oh thank god he didn't kill me…"_

"_Just get away from where you are in case he decides to come back."_

"_I don't think he will. But I need to get to you…So sit tight kiddo, I am going to find a way to get to you…"_

"_Oh yes we were rescuin' me!" she snickered…_

We laughed at that and I started to get up to go after Adyline. Something caught my eye. It was a small pouch and, _call me weird_, but I think it was glimmering in the small amount of light in the passage. How strange! I got to it and picked it up. The pouch was embroidered dark velvet, with a drawstring decorated with beads of some kind. It absolutely did not look like something that could be lying around in the middle of the corridor.

_Maybe the thief was taking this too and dropped it here when I blasted him…_

I debated peeking inside, my mind arguing that it was bad manners to look into a purse that didn't belong to me. However, I _had _found it lying around and I just wanted to know what was inside before handing it over perhaps to Tara, who could find the actual owner. After all, a small peak could hurt no one.

I opened the drawstring and peered inside, cursing the lack of proper light. Something was shining. I reached in and clasped the cool metal to pull it out. It was a dagger of some kind, small and decorated with stones on its hilt. It had a dull glow around it, the same one which I must have seen on the pouch. Even if I could not see it properly, I knew that it was absolutely beautiful. It was certainly something that a thief would want to steal. The Hulk may have taken the other sword, but I felt a little better inside thinking that I had saved something of value. I quickly put the dagger back inside the pouch and decided to turn it to someone I could trust, to return it back to whosoever it belonged to. Then I started towards Adyline again.

* * *

**So I have introduced the another shifter that wasn't introduced in the series. He doesn't have a huge role here, just another one I thought Eric could get to torture *evil laughs* :D :D...**

**For those of us who have read the books, you would have recognized the dagger and would know what can happen through it...For the same reason, I was just dying to introduce it here and stow it with Sookie :)**

**Do read and review and tell me where I messed up and can improve :)...**


	11. Chapter 11 The Cure and the Ritual

**I got a lot of reviews where the readers shared that they would hate it if I married Eric to Freyda...So we need a bit of reassurance here...Dear readers, I am team Eric/Sookie through and through. I always envisioned Eric to be two steps ahead of everything and that is how I will always write him. The only angst here would be from things he cannot help, aka Sookie. But we are already working on that :)...**

**To be honest, I was very anxious by the number of lose ends I left in the previous chapter and couldn't sit still till I started tying a few (Hence the quick update)...**

**For this chapter, read between the lines and keep in mind, a few small incidents from the previous chapter. You will want to kill me otherwise and I need to finish a few stories before dying :) :) ...**

**Thanks for your reviews and continued support...Please keep sharing your wonderful suggestions and comments...**

* * *

**Eric's POV**

_This is why I never wanted to be a king. There is just too much official business!_

But, in my _infinite_ wisdom, I did become a king and was now dragging my ass after a puny little hand maiden, being taken to a cranky old crone, who liked to talk in cryptic monosyllables and often drove me crazy. I had no idea why I tolerated her funny little remarks and why she kept me around. I didn't even know why she supported my rule and edicts and why she had made such a public statement by officiating over my coronation. I tried asking her once, in a more politically correct manner of course. She chuckled, rubbed her hands, winked and offered, "Vikings are funny."

Yeah that's it…

So, here I was, answering her summons and following her hand maiden like a licked puppy, when I really wanted to follow a certain half fairy trolling my home turf, who by the looks of our tie, was having a very good time indeed. I would never have left Sookie's side at the party if it hadn't been for that drag of a meeting with other monarchs. I could have returned to her when she went back, _to check on her safety of course_, if it hadn't been for that last minute farce of a meeting with Freyda. Now, as if to mock me, she was traipsing around, close enough for me to get a hell of a homing signal in my blood and far enough that I couldn't see her, or better still touch her.

_Sigh! I hated being a king already!_

This meeting, thankfully, was not brain numbing or useless as my two previous ones had been. A few other council members were present too. I saw Niall and we nodded at each other cordially.

The urgent matter was a breakthrough in our knowledge of the nature of the Hep V virus mutation, on which the Council's team of researchers were working day and night. We caught all the infected vampires we could and used a few to study the virus and its possible cure. They had been drawing blanks since some time.

The AP called everyone to pay attention and gestured towards the young demon researcher Damian Cataliades, who was heading the research team, to enlighten the others with what they had found. The kid is a genius and one of the greatest minds in the field of medical and cellular research of our day. But for all his earned stars, he has a major fear of spotlights and avoids company like a plague. He took his time, clearing his throat and shuffling the papers in front of him, clearly struggling with where to start, when all the eyes in the room were on him.

I was sorely tempted to get him some of what Sookie was clearly ingesting and consequently getting merrier by the minute. Maybe it would loosen up our man of science a bit!

Niall Brigant was sitting next to Damian and perceiving his nervousness, gently squeezed the kid's shoulder as a gesture of support and encouragement. The small action from the ancient fairy seemed to ease Damian's nerves. He squared his shoulders and took a deep breath before starting.

"Worthy members of the Council, as you know, we have been working on the blood mutation effects of the new Hep V virus which was recently developed by the humans in pure spite. They must have been planning on a large scale chemical war with vampires. Their endeavor was somewhat contained, thankfully by the quick measures taken by our council member Mr. Northman and his aides."

He looked at me and bowed and I nodded in acknowledgement.

"Hep V is a destructive and parasitic virus. Injected into a vampire, it pushes each and every blood cell into a frenzied war like state, in effect to save itself from being destroyed by the host's blood. The vampire feels extreme hunger and pain when this happens. If injected in a highly concentrated form, the host cells turn against each other and the vampire's blood kind of self-destructs. Again it is a very painful process."

The memory of a dying Nora assailed my conscience and for a moment there, I was deeply aware of the hole my sister had left in me in her wake. But I needed to pay attention to Damian and could not start on this path which would now take me nowhere. I shook the depressing thoughts away and turned my attention back to what the kid was saying.

"In a lighter concentration, the individual blood cells would be driven into a crazed state but as long as the vampire continues feeding and ingesting more blood, the foreign blood cells would be the first to be destroyed, leaving the vampire's blood till the time the foreign blood holds up. This gives rise to a maddening hunger for blood and crazed behavior in the infected vampires. Their blood is at a constant battle within them. They cannot think, cannot reason, do not answer to commands. They are essentially out of control."

We already knew all of that. So what was new? I asked as much.

Damian's eyes sparkled for an instant when he replied. "You see, up until now, we were studying their behavior when they were at their worst. And we were missing a very important detail. Mr. Northman what happens to a vampire at dawn?"

"We effectively die for the day. In a way, our blood sleeps and becomes dormant till the time the sun sets."

Damian gave me a triumphant smile and nodded again. "Exactly! And this happens with the infected vampires too. The Hep V virus mucks up the vampire's blood cells, but even then it cannot keep the blood awake when the sun comes up. That part of magic in a vampire is not affected whatsoever. So along with the vampire's blood cells, the virus is forced to stay dormant while the host blood cells are dormant. I have been working with the humans researching cancer, a deadly disease to humans, which works in a similar fashion as Hep V in vampires. The difference in behavior and bloodlust is because vampires are inherently stronger and their blood is magical."

Someone asked. "Yes but how does this knowledge solve the situation?"

Damian continued. "I have been working with a team of cancer researchers since a few years, to develop a form of nanoscale particle that has the ability of specifically attaching to the cancer cells in a human's bloodstream and destroy the bad cells selectively, without adversely affecting the other healthy cells. When a bunch of these particles are injected into the human's blood stream, they spread out and latch on to the cancerous cells, owing to their cellular shape and affinity, and selectively destroy the malignant cells."

He looked significantly at all of us before declaring with muted pride and emotion in his voice, "My team successfully cured a human suffering from leukemia, a kind of blood cancer, with our lab developed nanoscale particles. We confirmed positive results just two hours back."

_Oh! _

All of us looked at each other with bated breaths. This was some news indeed.

"For vampires, nanophytes may not work within dormant blood cells, as the blood stream needs to be constantly moving for the particulates to latch on, so we can't try this out during the day. During the night, the nanophytes may not be quick enough to latch on to the virus cells in time, because they may be blocked by the crazed vampire blood cells. But, I have enough data to surmise that while a vampire's blood is partially dormant, certain specially created nano particulates may work for them."

I thought about the UV torture chambers at the AVL headquarters and offered my two bits. "During the night, if a vampire is subjected to a controlled amount of UV rays, it considerably weakens a vampire. The AVL and then the human government have used it as a torture technique. Is it possible that the UV rays slow down the vampire by bringing his or her blood to a semi dormant state?"

Damian gasped and gawked at me for a whole minute.

Then almost to himself, he mumbled in a low whisper, "Now why didn't I think of that!"

Everybody was quite again.

The Ancient Pythoness was the first to break the silence. "Can this work for vampires Damian? We do not want another mutant version of the virus through another failed cure, like before."

Damian clasped his hands and said emphatically. "I wasn't there before, when your cure went wrong. I have brought the test and cure details from the human patients. You can all look at the data here. I need express permission from the Council to carry out the nanoparticle tests on vampires. I believe that our research combined with what Mr. Northman has shared, we have a good chance of a cure to the Hep V epidemic."

This was good news indeed! We didn't even have to take a vote…

The permission for vampire testing, with the authorizing signatures of all core council members, was granted in three minutes flat and all of us finally had a good reason to be hopeful for this project.

Dawn was approaching and the council members slowly filed out, as the meeting came to an end. I had just risen from my chair when the Pythoness called out to me.

"Northman…I need to discuss another matter with you. Stay…"

_More matters?! Would this night never end?_

She stopped Niall and it looked like Niall was tired and perplexed too. We shared a dry smile and sat down again.

It was about the same time, when I felt the alarm bells going crazy within me and rattling my ancient vampire blood cells into a different kind of frenzy…

Shock…

Fear…

Pain…

_Sookie…In trouble…fuck! What were the odds here?_

I didn't even realize I was already standing and ready to rush to her aid, when I got a stink eye from the old timer.

"Patience Viking…"

"I need to be somewhere" _Did it come out like whining?_

The Pythoness looked at me with a slight smirk. Why did I get the feeling that she knew exactly where I had to go and she was stalling me on purpose?

"And I would say it again- Patience Viking!"

I changed tactic. "It is dawn already."

She remained unfazed and kept smirking. "Does it bother you so much at your age?"

I looked at Niall and surprisingly, he was looking very distracted and worried too. Maybe he could hear his granddaughter as well? Maybe the ancient relic would let him get to Sookie…

With an effort, I controlled the growl forming in my throat, "Ancient one, there is someone under my protection, within confines of my grounds right now, who is in some form of trouble. I need to get to her."

Niall spun his head to look directly in my eyes when he asked, "Sookie?"

I nodded silently.

Niall raised an eyebrow at me, "How do you know?"

I cocked my own eyebrow in response, "How do you think?"

The AP interrupted our exchange. "Oh come now you two. Everything is as it should be. You must let fate take a turn once in a while. Northman, you can't save everyone all the time. And you, Niall, need to take a break. The kids are getting really pesky these days."

Niall and I both gaped at the old vampire, speechless and at a loss of what more to say. I got another anxious spike in fear and gripped and tore at the table's edge in front of me in frustration. My frustration grew as I saw Niall sitting with eyes closed, apparently concentrating very hard on something.

"There are two of my kin in trouble here!"

_What? Two?_

His body started glowing faintly and I felt Sookie's resolve and determination grow. Was Niall doing this? Who knew whatever the fairies could pull! Whatever it was, I pushed at the frail bond and tried sending as much support and strength as I could. I felt another spike of shock and disgust from my fairy and then suddenly, she was filled with relief.

_Thank. The. Gods! _

I slumped into my chair; my mind filled with relief too, and took a deep calming breath. I noticed Niall was staring at me and I smiled wryly at him. We shared another nod, acknowledging our averted crisis.

The AP cackled as only she could and left us with another one of her infamous cryptic remarks. "The stage is set…Vikings and fairies are fun…"

_What the fuck kind of statement was that?!_

* * *

_Meanwhile,_ so_mewhere else in New Orleans (fill up any location you want :) )_

* * *

Freyda paced manically around the hotel room, her ears and eyes starting to bleed already because of the dawn.

"He wouldn't do it. I have watched him carefully for some time. If Eric was ready, he wouldn't have stalled."

"Stop wearing out a hole in the carpet Freyda. Sit down and listen to me."

"You don't understand Stan. You don't know Eric Northman."

Stan Davis sighed and resorted to the only way that would still his agitated child for a bit. "As your maker I command you to sit down, be quite and listen to me."

Freyda suddenly skidded to a stop and comically plopped down a chair. She had the expression of a landed fish, as she tried speaking out but the words wouldn't just come. Finally she closed her mouth and crossed her arms angrily.

"Thank you…Now listen to me. I knew he wouldn't sign the contract. You are a clever vampire my girl but you lack far sight. You still need to learn to cover your bases and make back up plans."

Unable to respond or get up, Freyda huffed and sank further into her chair, still glaring angrily at her maker.

"But I agree with you that marriage to the Northman would be very beneficial to your position with the other monarchs. Good for you that your maker thinks of everything."

Freyda raised her eyebrows in sarcasm.

"None of that now… I gave you your chance to talk and you have been doing it since a few months. It earned us nothing. Now we will do this my way. You see child, there is little that can't be won in a war of wits. We just need the right weapons. And of course there is magic to make everything right."

Stan walked over to his desk where a large stole covered something. With the flourish of a magician, Stan uncovered the object and looked expectantly at his child.

"You can speak now."

Freyda gasped "That sword? How did you get it here? What will this serve?"

Stan smirked and waited a moment before he answered. "That my dear, is our back up plan. I couldn't get my hands on it before but we got lucky tonight. There is an extremely gifted werewitch who owes me and holds a grudge against Northman. She came up with a binding spell sometime back, which was disproved and banned by the pussies in the Supe Council. Northman cast the damning vote against her and she was turned away from Mississippi after all her rights to practice her craft were stripped from her. Luckily for us, she sought asylum with me and I saw how useful her craft could be for us."

Freyda's eyes widened as she realized what Stan was saying.

"She can magically bind me to Eric?"

"Do you know how a blood bond works?"

"Yes…two creatures become one in their mind and blood. Each can tell the other's thoughts, emotions, needs, location, anything that a conscious mind can come up with."

"Yes that is what it does. As far as how this happens is concerned, we are magical beings and our blood is magical too. Our blood follows what we truly want to do. It holds dear what we hold dear and it rebels against what we detest. So when the blood of two magical creatures that hold each other dear, is mixed, their blood starts following the other's blood, flows with the blood of the one we desire and feels whatever the other is feeling. A shared conscience results from this. It is a true connection. The strength and the exact magic of the bond, grows from the feelings the two participants have for each other."

"Eric would never share his blood with me." Freyda interjected.

Stan waved casually at that. "That is where Hallow, our witch, comes in. She just needs something from Eric that he considers precious and dear. Something he can depend on, an object that embodies his spirit. His Viking sword, for instance. And then she can work her spell to bind that part of him to you. In effect, the dearer the object to him, the dearer you will be to him."

Freyda was smiling excitedly now. "In this case, _I_ will become precious and dear to him. _I_ will become his warrior's spirit. He will depend on _me_."

"Yes exactly. You don't need to exchange blood. This spell will replicate the magic of mingling blood and bind him to you. I tried to procure the Council's Ceremonial Dagger too. After the binding, it would just have taken you to give that enchanted dagger to Eric in front of witnesses and he would have been married to you by the law of the Supernatural Council. But no matter! We will think about it after the binding. Maybe we won't even need it later."

Freyda's brow furrowed skeptically as she considered everything. "Forgive me master, but I see a flaw here. I do not want to be bonded to him this way. I don't want him to know what I am feeling and I do not want him for eternity. That is the reason I wanted a paper contract and not the ritualistic wedding."

Stan smiled knowingly and looked proudly at his child.

"That is why you are a great queen. You do see every small detail Freyda. But don't worry about that. I have discussed the spell at long length with Hallow. If we do not use your blood in any way for the spell, you will not be blood bound to Eric. If you had wanted that, it would take just a scrap of your blood on the sword in the ritual and you would be bound to him too. Eric's progeny cleans and polishes the sword for him every night just before dawn. There won't be any interfering particles on it for the spell to go wrong. In our way, without your blood, it is only _he_ that would be irrevocably bound to you. I know you are creative. You can make him do whatever you would want, _including_ breaking the contract and attracting punishment."

Freyda was speechless. Mustering all the respect and awe that she could in one gesture, she bowed her head to her maker. "Stan, Master…You have really outdone yourself this time."

Stan walked towards his child and raised her chin to look at her. "I would do anything for you _love_." And he bent down and kissed her passionately.

Freyda was the first to break the kiss. "How soon can the witch do this?"

Stan caressed her hair and pulled her up to stand. "Hallow is on her way. I informed her as soon as I got my hands on the Viking's sword. Everything else is already set up for her." He knelt down and picked up Freyda in his arms, before adding in a breathy whisper. "Which means we can celebrate our win while our pieces move themselves on the board…"

..


	12. Chapter 12 I Think I'm Dreaming

I always felt her before I saw her or sensed her scent. It was always like that.

Sookie was standing in front of that door, with a determined look of concentration in her eyes and her head swayed when she tried to summon her light within the semi-circle of her hands.

The light flickered and went out and her hands froze where they were. I knew she knew I was there, a few feet behind her. Sookie waited, holding her breath, for me to speak up. I just stood there, taking in her sleep attire, her ruffled hair and her unsteady body. From the rate her heart was beating and by her erratic breathing, I knew she would be blushing. I couldn't see for sure because her hair was loose on her shoulders and she was covered from head to toe, much to my disappointment. Her evening dress had been magnificent, showing off her body to perfection. But even in her full sleeved top and full pajamas, she looked an angel to me. I couldn't show it though. I could never show how much of a weakness she was to me. I needed to be in control.

I was still battling my demons when she whispered. "Oh thank god...I must have passed out!"

_What? _Why on Earth would she say _that_ of all the things?

"Why Miss Stackhouse?"

She turned and looked sheepishly at me, one eye closed…_Adorable!_

"Why I passed out or why I thanked God for it?"

I was fighting a smile…hard…

"Why do you think you fainted?"

"Don't even get me started."

I quirked an eyebrow. Could her night have been as long as mine?

"Long night?"

She snorted. Even that was endearing…"The longest ever. One thing led to another. My shields won't work and my head won't stop spinning. But thankfully I passed out and am blissfully dreamin' my ass off somewhere in this labyrinth." She took a deep breath, while a smile grew on her face. "Yep…definitely dreamin'…I can't hear a thing now…"

_That would be me!_

She looked me up and down and giggled. I was still wearing my tux but somewhere during the night, the jacket had come off, the bow tie was untied and still hung around my collar and the full sleeves of my dress shirt were folded up my arms. I hadn't gotten time to change. But why was she laughing? And did I just feel a spike of lust from her?

Sookie stepped a little unsteadily towards me and came to stand right in front of me. She was doing her 'head tilted completely upwards and bent a little to the side' thing, to look me in my eyes. She lifted a hand and touched my nose with her index finger. I was still fighting my smile.

"You are never so serious in my dreams. Something troubling ya?"

She was still thinking she was dreaming…Did she dream of me often? _Shit I shouldn't think of that!_

"Yes something is troubling me. A wayward pixie won't let me sleep…" I was very serious about that.

She giggled again. It was one of the most amazing sounds I'd ever heard.

"Mr. big bad vampire king is bothered by a pixie? We can't have that now, can we? I must zap it away." Then she leaned in and winked conspiratorially, "don't move an inch… I'll find it." She placed a finger on a button on my shirt and started to walk around me, slowly, grazing her hand around my torso as she went around…tracing my arms…scraping my back. She suddenly came to a halt and gasped. Her hand went down and then …_Oh Fuck me!_

"_Did_ you just _pinch_ my butt?" I turned around and caught her roaming hands in mine. She giggled and swayed again, before replying in a sing song voice.

" '_s a beautiful butt!_"

_And just like always Sookie Stackhouse fucking blew my control to shreds!_

I grinned and said the obvious. "You are drunk..."

Did she always grope me in her dreams? What else did she do?

"Shhhhh….I am not drunk! I was…before…but then someone attacked me…they took that sword…" her forehead scrunched, "He took that sword from that office. Eric someone stole a sword here."

"_Sword_?"

Her tone became frantic. "Yes, big heavy, looked old, from that office with the sparkly windows and a gazillion books. He was running when he tripped on me and then he ran off with it. I don't know where he went. I thought he would kill me. But he ran away."

That would have to be my office and my sword! How did she know about that?

_Wait…Someone stole me sword? Mine? How dare…_

She winced and I realized I had squeezed her hands painfully. I let go of her hands and held her shoulders to hold her steady and to check on her. I'd get everything from the security footage but I needed to know whether she was fine.

"I am sorry! Were you harmed in any way?"

Her eyes moistened a little. "I am fine now. I just got scared. He was so big." She placed her soft warm hand over where my heart used to beat and the warmth penetrated the fabric of my shirt to reach inside. "But I am fine. You need to catch a thief. I'll help with whatever I can."

Just then I heard someone turning the corner and a very breathless Niall came upon us. I had cleared his entry to this building on my way, knowing he would want to get to Sookie too.

"Sookie? Are you alright dear? What happened?"

Sookie stiffened. "Niall is never in my dreams…But I still can't hear anything, so I must be dreamin'."

And it was time to bring her out of her beautiful fantasy. I reluctantly let go of her and stepped back. "You know you couldn't hear a thing because of me Miss Stackhouse. This is not a dream."

Her eyes widened and she stumbled back from me. Thankfully Niall caught her.

"But…but I…I just…Oh good GOD!"

And there was that beautiful blush again, rising to the roots of her hair. _How do I control my body from running and crushing her into my arms till we were one? How? _

I had to smile again. "You are always a delight, Miss Stackhouse."

She tried to say something but sputtered. I knew what she wanted to say.

Before I could do something I would regret, like showing emotion in front of Niall Brigant, I nodded to him and hurried to take my leave. "I need to go over to security and then retire for the day. It looks like there was a breach here. Sookie would you be able to identify whoever attacked you? Did you get a good look at his face?"

She looked a little shaken at that but silently thanked me with her eyes for changing the topic of conversation. "It was dark. My eyes were blurry and he was behind me most of the time. But I think I could recognize him if I tried. He was quite tall, bulky, bald and oh yes, he was a were' of some kind. His thoughts were really snarly."

_A fucking were'! _"Hmm, I could work with that. He couldn't have gone far. And I am sure he left his scent in my office."

"That was your office? And was that your sword?" she looked contrite.

"Yes and yes. And by the way, how would _you_ know about that?"

"Ummmm….I might a' wondered in there…I was looking for some water and uhhh…" her expression grew more ashamed, "I touched it… I uh touched and cut my finger on that sword. It was so fascinating. I am really sorry I know I shouldn't have been there."

She cut a finger on my razor sharp sword blade and she was sorry! When would she stop getting hurt? "Why do you…" I stopped myself from exploding and took a breath of her calming scent. I couldn't keep getting mad whenever she hurt herself out of her own curiosity. I looked at her face and she was still on the verge of tears. _Oh Gods no! I could not handle that!_

I tried toning down my voice to sound gentle and light. "You just walked into my office? Was it not locked? Or did you blast that door too?"

She took a breath and smiled a little before replying, no doubt relieved that I wasn't angry. "No! I just…the door was not locked…"

_What the hell! I locked my office before leaving…How was this possible? There was something very wrong here and I needed to find out. Fuck the dawn! I was old enough to could manage a couple more minutes in the light tight corridors. _

"I'll leave word with the guard room to help you with anything you need. I need to check this out. Please excuse me." I turned to leave.

"Wait!" Sookie called out before I could go.

_No! Don't use that word with me again…_

"Adilyn is trapped in that room. She...uh...didn't tell her dad…and sneaked out in the middle of the night…We need to get her out."

Niall sighed. "Pesky little kids don't know anything…Mr. Northman I am sorry about this. Can you help us here?"

_Pesky little kids indeed! _I knew Niall would see this as a favor from me and feel indebted. If Sookie were a normal human, she would have been punished just for entering my office without permission and then trying to force entry into another vampire's room. I could see why Niall was looking nervous. He was not comfortable with owing one to a vampire king. He clearly didn't know my history with Sookie yet. I needed to convey I wasn't going to hold it over his head later.

"When we are not in company, call me Eric please. Believe me Niall, she doesn't plan it but things just happen around Miss Stackhouse and I am used to it now. I believe I can unlock a few doors in my home for her sake. She can maybe read my staff later for investigation sake?"

Niall looked relieved and nodded to me. He got my point. "Yes. Yes that would be appropriate. Sookie can do that tonight, can't you dear? Thank you for your help."

Sookie nodded. I walked over to the door she was trying to blast off earlier, the door to the room my European friend Stephen was occupying.

"Is she here?"

"Yes"

At least Stephen was old enough to control himself and honorable enough to not kill a guest in my home. He and Adilyn huh? Who was I to judge?

I pressed my hand into the console by the door, to override all locks. The door swung open silently, to reveal a very agitated half fairy standing right next to it. She hurried out of the room and silently hugged Sookie in relief.

Sookie looked at me, with something shining in her eyes. "Thank you, Eric." She lingered a bit on my name. It always sounded different when she said it. Oh well what could we do about that?

"You are always welcome Miss Stackhouse. I am sure you'll impress upon Adilyn the importance of extreme caution with vampires. Niall, I'll get in touch later. Good bye… for now!"

I turned and Sookie called out, "Good bye Eric…"

I walked away at human pace and I could somehow feel her eyes on me, following my retreating form. I needed to get away from those eyes full of light. Sookie wanted it that way…I had to honor her wish. I had to honor myself.

From our frail bond, I could feel she still loved me. That love was what made it so difficult for me to always walk away from her. In my thousand years in this world, I had fought many battles, ended many foes and outsmarted all competition. But this was new. This battle was not like anything I had faced before. This time, I was fighting myself. I was fighting my blood.

I forced my mind to concentrate on the theft Sookie was talking about. I would need to check out all my staff. It was surely an inside job. The entire building was sealed. No one could get inside without my authorization, not even the guards at this hour. I kept it this way to eliminate the danger from any errant guard. Plus, no stranger could walk into the compound two steps without getting caught, let alone this building of all. It housed my progenies and my closest associates. How had some were' broken in and then walked out without anyone noticing?

Who the hell was stupid enough to steal from me? Was I losing my touch already? I could not afford that to happen! My position needed to be respected. The supes needed a reminder of what I could do. I needed to make an example out of this thief…

…


	13. Chapter 13 The Heart Wants What it Wants

**So Hallow's spell happens in this chapter. But it was growing lengthy and I decided to split chapters...I know you are going to be very angry with me for bringing the story to this point and then ending the chapter but please stay with me here :(...And please share your valuable suggestions :)...Your wonderful reviews are my motivation and some days, the only reason I write for !**

**Am I sounding depressed? Am I rambling here?**

**Hmmmm so I'll save my keystrokes for the next chapter and let you get to the story...**

* * *

_Ten fathoms is the distance they say,_  
_a million times the pain..._  
_There may pass, ten million days,_  
_when I feel close to you again..._

**Sookie's POV**

Eric took one last look at me and walked away at human pace. The amount of pain I felt when he walked away really shocked me. Logically, there was no reason to be in pain. I knew he had to rest during the day and see to the breach in his home. I knew I had no right on him. In fact, he seemed to be even farther away from me, than he used to be before. But last night and then right now, why did I feel like never letting him go? I tried looking away but I could not.

I wanted to run after him. But could I do that after turning him away so many times?

All my restraint and pride was tested to its limit there. I was transported in mind to that fateful night at Bill's house, when I had walked away from both Eric and Bill, and it felt as if I was standing outside that door again, torn in two. Funny how often I thought about that night and couldn't get past it. Getting away from the two people I loved so much had been the most difficult decision I've had to take. I couldn't even begin to explain it to myself now. I just wanted to spare all three of us the pain I had been causing since the day I drank a few drops of Eric's blood. Something broke inside me when I saw both of them kneel in front of Marnie, ready to die, for me. Sooner or later, I would have attracted some more trouble and then I would have gotten the two of them in that spot again. I couldn't let that happen. And there was my ever present confusion between the two.

I just had to get away. And the moment I started to walk from that door I shut on myself, I had to keep walking. I could not stop for even one second. I could not let it affect me as much as it was.

Truth be told, I had been walking away from Eric since that night, since two years now. I say only Eric, because somewhere on my way, I left my love for Bill behind. It just went away, little by little, till I didn't feel anything for my first vampire boyfriend. The need to be with Bill just fell away, partly because of his behavior after drinking that cursed blood and partly because I finally understood that Bill had been a placeholder for my heart. I was trying to fill up the hole Gran left in my life and he crossed my path.

Years afterwards, I now know relationships don't work like that. You can't fill a hole in your life, in your heart that way. Maybe drinking his blood compelled me to seek him out. Maybe I was scared of loneliness. But grief should not be handled that way. A relationship should never be a crutch. I should never have run to Bill the day gran died. I should have been stronger.

But Eric?

_Phewwww!_

I loved him. And I hated him and then I loved him more. I connected with him on a level I could never get to with anyone else. He threw away conventions, denounced set standards and brought out feelings in me that scared me to death.

_Could I give so much power to one individual who could destroy me? _

I didn't know…

_Was it even in my hands anymore?_

I guess not…

Could I now run to him after everything? Would it be running away from my loneliness again?

His blood could not be affecting me because I hadn't had any in so long. This was so confusing! And I would never go after him until I didn't work through all my confusions. I could not hurt him any more than I already had because I wasn't sure about what I wanted. I owed that much to him. And I still had to deal with Alcide.

I felt some pressure on my shoulder and turned to see Niall's comforting smile. We were alone in the corridor. Eric was gone. It was time for me to leave too.

..

It was almost nine in the morning by the time Niall and I reached our suite at the hotel. We had to drop Adilyn at her hotel and then decided to grab some breakfast. Niall was quite all the way. He looked to be chewing on something in his mind. He was also shielding his thoughts from me and I didn't know what he was contemplating. I decided not to pry and turned back to myself. I could hardly believe so much had cleared up in my head in a day.

My phone buzzed and I reached into the huge pockets of my pajamas. That was when I realized I was still carrying that knife I had found on the floor after the thief ran away. I had completely forgotten about it. I could have turned it to Eric. He would know what to do with it. Maybe it was Eric's and the thief nicked it with the sword. I put away the thought of the dagger for the moment and looked at the call in my phone. _Alcide!_

It felt awkward, taking his call so soon after last night's fiasco. I didn't want to answer but a wise voice inside my head told me that not talking honestly to him about my feelings would be the dishonorable thing to do. I had missed that voice since forever. I wouldn't let it disappear again. So, I did what my instinct told me was right and pressed the call button.

"Hey Alcide."

"Sookie…I…uh good morning…"

I realized that he was feeling as uncomfortable as I was.

"Good morning…"

Awkward silence…

"So…I as wandering if you wanted to have lunch with me?"

I really didn't want to see him at the moment. Plus there was the luncheon this afternoon. But I did need to talk to him. It was better to resolve things as soon as I could and not keep him hanging. I had to explain it to him that I wanted to end our relationship. And it wasn't just because of last night. Things just had kept piling up and I didn't see him as my partner any more. We weren't right for each other. He would be angry but I needed to do this. And I had to do this right.

"Ok…Where do you want to meet?"

He took a relieved breath. "I'll pick you up. 11:30 good for you?"

"Yes that would do. But you don't have to pick me up."

"I want to Sook…Please let me do this. Look I can guess what you are going to say. But I…just let me do something right for you, ok?"

Yes I could let him have that at least…

"Alright Alcide. See you at 11:30 then."

"Ok…bye Sook…see you…"

Niall quirked his eyebrows at me, "Are you sure about this? After last night?"

I sighed and sat down next to him on the couch. "Yes great granddaddy…I need to talk to him and the sooner the better. I can't go on with him. I have been going round and round in circles and if I keep doing this, I would never reach anywhere in my life. So much has gone wrong… So much that I want to change…"

"What's stopping you to change it honey?"

I tiredly looked into his eyes and saw so much understanding, so much care in them. I could not help it when a tear escaped my eyes. Niall took my hands in his and wiped the lone tear away. "Why are you so scared Sookie?"

I was not expecting that. Trust great granddaddy to get right to the most disturbing issue. I didn't know how to answer him.

"I don't know how to answer that. I have been lonely all my life. I have been in some rough spots that just changed me. And I have lost so much. I am afraid that if I fix my heart on something, I'll lose it too. Then I'll be lonely again. I am scared that my heart won't survive it if someone else breaks it again."

"Sookie you can't live with that fear. You can't change your fate. It would catch up to you whether you like it or not. That is the way of life and you can't change it."

I snorted. "Fate is a bitch…"

Niall smiled wryly and gave my hands a squeeze. "Yes she can be bitchy sometimes. But she is a cunning and misunderstood bitch." He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. "But that doesn't mean we don't get a choice for what happens to us. Everything that is thrown our way has the potential to make us happy or crush us. But we can choose not to get crushed. When I look at you great granddaughter, I see so much of me in you. Fate robbed my family too. I was very young when that happened. But the bitch could not crush me. I chose to stand on my feet and fight. I chose to love again. I chose to fight for that love even if I knew fate could eventually take it away from me, just as it had taken away everything I had before. That fear could not rule my life."

Did he think I hadn't fought for my love? "But I have been fighting all my life too."

Niall grew serious. "You have been fighting all the wrong things Sookie. I am very old and very perceptive. I have observed the way you think and act for some time now. Your instincts are all perfect. But you never listen to them. You act in the way you think a normal human would act, but you are not a normal human. Even normal humans don't act like normal humans are supposed to act these days."

I knew what he was saying made some sense but the stubborn girl in me would not let this go without defending herself. "But I am human Great granddaddy. And I need to live with humans. I am not nearly as old as you but I have always tried to be as honorable as possible."

"_You _are certainly not _human_ Sookie. You can't live by _human_ standards and then expect to be happy with it. There is a reason why supes have their own standards, their own laws and their own way of life. We are different. We need to recognize it and adapt. But we are digressing from the big question here. You have my blood flowing in your veins. You are a fighter by heart. But you keep fighting for your grandmother's human ideals. You keep fighting for people who don't care about you and discard you from their lives the first chance they get, all because of some Christian notion of forgiveness your gran preached. You fight people who want to stand by your side and turn them away, because of a skewed version of the human standard for independent women in your head. You think the supernatural world is dangerous and avoid it like a plague. But you keep coming back because you are a supernatural creature too. You fight your very nature and want it to go away. But it is who you are and it will never go away. It will only grow within you."

I was bristling now. He didn't have to look down on me for trying to live by gran's ideals… He didn't even know her. Gran had been everything to me. She sheltered me when there was no one else. She raised me. Made me the person I was now. How could I not follow her ideals?

"Do you have a problem with humans?"

Niall smirked and shook his head. "Of all that I just said, you picked that one to fight?"

"I love my gran. I can't let you speak disrespectfully for her."

"I am not being disrespectful of anyone Sookie. I am just asking you to stand up and fight for the good in people, not the bad in them. I am asking you to stand up and fight for your happiness again. I want you to think on why at thirty you have more regrets than I have had in centuries. There must be something wrong you are doing there."

I was silent for a while. I didn't know what to say. Fighting for my happiness should be the right thing to do. But my damned one track brain could see only one thing that would bring back the happy in my life. And I had fought against that one thing for so long

"What if I left all my happiness behind?"

Niall scoffed. "Where do you get these fool ideas from girl? There is no such thing as leaving your happiness behind. Happiness is not a trinket you lose. It is a way of living, a way of seeing things. It can't be lost."

"What if I did manage to lose it?"

"Then you find it. And find it soon young lady. Your mood swings are too much for my old bones."

I had to smile at that. Bless him. And thank the lord for sending him to me at my hour of need. Even if he liked to argue the life out of me, he still was the best great granddaddy ever. Maybe what he said was right. Maybe I could still find a way to happiness and true love…

"I _know_ what I want. But I am afraid I can't have it anymore. I am afraid I am too late. I can't live with it and I can't live without it and the confusion is killing me. I won't ever let someone else in my heart and I won't get what's in there already. I was always lonely and I am going to die lonely." I pressed my hands to my throbbing head and looked at my feet dejectedly. "With the number of conflicting questions in my head, one of these days I am going to have a full scale nervous breakdown."

Niall slid closer to me on the couch and placed his hands on either side of my face. He looked at me sternly and shook me gently. "You are not lonely. You have a family, whatever is left of it. You have a few good friends. There are people who love you and care about you and would never quit on you."

I teared up again. "I know…And I am thankful for everyone in my life, every day. But…" I desperately looked for the right words to say this. There were none. I hid my face in my hands and pressed my temples.

"But?"

I folded my hands on my lap and looked squarely at great grandfather. Hiding wouldn't help. "But I want someone I can't have."

Niall raised an eyebrow in an all too familiar expression and my deviant mind filled up with images of Eric doing the same whenever I gave up and threw a pity party.

"I am guessing that would be Northman?"

"Huh?" I felt my stomach fall and my eyes pop. How much had Niall noticed? He removed his hands from my face and smirked. Again, a very familiar thing to do, which again reminded me of Eric.

Niall winked at me and grinned. "My old eyes have seen a lot kid. _You_ are clearly smitten. I would say that holds for the _vampire_ too. It is messed up but it is what it is. You can't keep running away from the issue. Why don't you two stop giving grief to everyone around you and do something about it?"

_What? My fairy great grandfather was winking and giving me relationship advice and telling me to get together with a thousand year old vampire! Wasn't I like too old for adventures like that?_

I was speechless…And I was blushing to high heaven…

He gave my hands another squeeze and rose from the couch. He walked towards his bedroom, muttering under his breath. "_Fairies and vampires huh_…_fate's a real bitch…_"

I silently laughed. As far as I was concerned, he was absolutely right. Just before he closed the door to his room, he looked at me with that contemplative expression again. "I have a permanent position with the Supernatural Council now, representing the fae. The headquarters are here, in New Orleans. I have already bought a house here and would shift when it is ready. If you feel like extending your vacation, you are most welcome to join me."

I really wanted to stay but I had another life too. My real life…"I'd love to stay some more time but I have a job in Bon Temps. Arlene would not take too kindly on me going on unplanned vacations."

"Just think on it. No pressure ok?"

I smiled…"Ok great granddaddy…I'll think on it."

..

Lunch with Alcide went as expected. I tried to explain why I wasn't happy and why things weren't working out for us. He wouldn't listen. He was sure I was back with my vampire craziness. I could hear him cursing vampires in his head. He just didn't come around to understanding that we just didn't have anything keeping us together any more. He didn't understand me and I didn't understand him. Maybe he could find happiness elsewhere. I told him to try and he told me to not bother with what he did from then on. Fine by me…

We didn't part like best of friends. I wasn't sure we could ever be friends again.

But when all was over and he was gone, I sat in the restaurant with a cup of coffee and in a very long time I felt like I had done something right with my life. I felt a big weight go off my shoulders. I felt hope…It made me smile…

The young waitress approached me politely, to ask if I wanted anything. It was already ten minutes to one and I had to get back to the hotel. Alcide had already paid the tab, so I stood up to leave and tipped the girl. She thanked me with a bright smile.

That is when I felt a jolt in my body. A powerful force pulled at my heart, right upto its breaking point…

I clutched at my chest and fell to my knees, gasping for air. Only, my frazzled inexorable brain wanted something more than air for my lungs…It wanted Eric!

..

**Eric's POV**

My eyes snapped open in the dark. I knew it in my blood that the sun was high up in the sky. I should not have been alive at this hour.

_Odd!_

My blood was telling me something. An urgent need was waking up inside me.

Suddenly, wave of longing crashed onto me and I felt an intolerable desire to have Sookie by my side. I tried to calm down but my blood won't let go. I sat up and clutched on the sheets, desperately trying to make the need go away. But I wanted Sookie. With every particle of my being, I wanted Sookie. It made no sense…

One moment I was on my bed and the next instant, I was standing in the middle of the room, ready to break the door and go find her…

My thinking caught up with my actions and I realized what I was doing_ No…No no no…I have defeated this before…I can't give up now…I can't go…Its daytime for Pete's sake..._

The need grew and a foreign sense of panic invaded my being. Next instant I was clutching the door knob, with all my strength, trying not to open the door.

Minute by agonizing minute, with everything I had in me, I shored my self-control. The pull was very strong. As strong as a maker's call. That was not possible. Godric was dead. He couldn't call me now. No one could call me that way now.

I pinched my eyes close and concentrated on my blood rebelling in my veins. With my thousand years of experience, I began to sift through every bit of emotion going through me. There was panic…exultation…yearning…adoration…fear…urgency…l ove…a lot of love…and a light flowing through me…

I swear I felt my own heart stopping…But that was not possible again. My heart was already dead, long ago. Then what was this feeling? I pushed all my thoughts towards the light and clutched at it. Gradually, the knots began to loosen up and my mind inched towards coherence again. With that came the realization that I was feeling a lot of emotions that were not mine. Sookie? Was I feeling Sookie? Was it her heart that I felt before?

As soon as I started separating Sookie's emotions from mine, my pain eased. And simultaneously, I felt her pain ease up too. I gathered all the calm I had and pushed it to her. She felt better. With her, I felt better too.

I took a calming gulp of air to fill my lungs and staggered back to the bed to sit down. Somehow, without a blood exchange, I magically felt being a part of Sookie and she felt...well she felt just _mine_. If this was some kind of sick joke the Goddess had decided to play on me then it was the best sick joke of my entire fucking existence.

I lay down again and reveled in her life force mingled through mine. Slowly, the day took me under its sway but I sure died a happy vampire...

..

..


	14. Chapter 14 I am Yours

Freyda sat in the middle of the couch, brow furrowed, with Stan and Hallow on either side, staring at her in anticipation. They had been sitting like this since fifteen minutes.

Stan grew impatient. "_Well_?"

No answer…

Freyda sat still and her eyes creased even more. Stan pushed at their bond to make Freyda speak. Freyda opened her eyes in irritation and snapped at him. "Would you quit it? I am trying to get at something here."

Stan gave an exasperated huff. "How much time do you need to do that? Just tell whether you can feel him or not?"

Freyda tilted her head a little. A smile contorted her thin lips. "I am feeling something… someone…"

Hallow looked relieved. Stan looked at Hallow and nodded.

"But I can't make sure that it is Eric. I don't know how this is supposed to feel."

"Do you think that's him she is feeling?" Stan asked Hallow.

Hallow shrugged her shoulders. "The sword was Northman's. She is supposed to be feeling him." She cunningly hid her doubts at the fact that the spell had not gone as it was supposed to go. It started fine but towards completion, a bright light encircled the sword and the Viking's sword absorbed all of the light like a sponge. It was nothing like the witch had seen before. But she was not going to tell this small detail to the two vampires sitting next to her. No telling what they may infer and how they may react. If the insufferable fool was feeling someone then all must have went well.

Stan pushed on. "Try calling him to you"

"We are going to that convention thing. He would be there. I'd rather test this at a distance first. We can see how he responds and then we can go further." The vampire queen answered with a little bite to her words.

Stan looked at his progeny with pride. "You are right. We should test this first and then try something drastic."

"Yes well, I am ready to go."

Hallow jumped up. "What about my payment?"

Stan looked at Freyda and then at hallow. "You can wait for this evening to pass. You will receive payment after my child tests the goods you delivered."

Hallow looked like she wanted to object but shut her mouth. She knew the vampires won't budge and what was one more evening. Just a couple of hours more, right?

..

..

**Sookie's POV**

My great grandfather said that I could skip tonight's event. It was supposed to be a speeches and more speeches kind of a thing for vampire monarchs, human senators and council members, which might bore me to death. But I couldn't miss it for the life of me. I had to see Eric. If that was going to be in the middle of a thousand people, then so be it. I just didn't care.

I chose to wear my knee length white silk cocktail dress, with five inch silver heels. I knew exactly how I wanted to look tonight. I didn't even have to think about it. I went through the motions of dressing up, perfecting my hair, putting on my makeup and accompanying Niall again to the one and only place where I wanted to be, as if I was on auto pilot. I was already in the car with Niall, when the sun began to lower in the sky and my heart beat quickened. There was an instant of spark inside me and then a whole new set of emotions washed over me like an avalanche. I sunk deep into the leather seats of the luxury sedan, embracing every new thing I was feeling. I couldn't believe I had been scared and lonely in the morning. How could I ever doubt all the love I had in my life? How could I ever have felt lonely? Just thinking about Eric turned me warm and mushy. I hugged myself in glee and laughed out aloud. It felt _so_ good!

Great granddaddy seemed to be in a chipper mood too. I guess my weird euphoria was rubbing off on him as well. As we got nearer to our destination, my anticipation and joy grew in spades. I actually stumbled in my hurry, when I got out of the car and the valet had to catch me from falling. Thank god for him or my dress would have been ruined. I barely noticed where I was going. Great granddaddy led me to a kind of round auditorium, complete with a huge stage on one end and step level seating in a semicircle around it.

There was a crowd of all kinds of people, human and supernatural, a melee of thoughts and talk flying all around me. But I was aware of only one vampire, surrounded by a group of important looking men in expensive looking suits on the stage. Eric Northman didn't need a stage or an expensive suit to get noticed in a crowd. But he was on the stage, standing statuesquely tall over everyone present, in a sharp steel grey suit, looking gorgeous as always. As if he knew the exact second when I would be entering the auditorium, he looked up and caught my gaze.

His eyes smoldered and set me on fire.

I stopped in my tracks. Niall faltered in his step and looked at me in confusion. Without taking my eyes off Eric, I asked him to go on and join his colleagues. He squeezed my hand and I turned to him.

"I need to be somewhere great granddaddy."

His eyes twinkled. "I know. Go on then."

I smiled at him. Then I turned to Eric again. He was talking to someone but his eyes were still on me. If I had any doubts before seeing him, I had none now. It was as if I was looking at this wonderful person for the first time. I saw the love, the want, the need clearly etched on his face. How could I ever have had second thoughts for this man, this vampire before?

Had I never seen it in his eyes? Had I been that blind?

How many times had I cursed him and doubted him and belittled his words?

How was it possible for him to not hate me?

After all, I had been so foolish, so stubborn, so prejudiced, just like every one of those hypocritical vampire haters in Bon Temps that I looked down upon.

Here he stood, looking at me with the intensity of a supernova, his eyes screaming out the vast amount of love he had for me. How could he still look at me like that?

_And I had doubted him! _

This realization was a shock to my system…

I blamed Eric for a lot of things that went wrong with my life. But the failure of our fragile relationship was one monumental fuck up that I couldn't pin to him. And I was the only one responsible for my empty life now. Everybody who ever claimed to love me, my friends, my brother, Bill Compton, Alcide, all gave up on me some time or the other. Eric never left my side. Eric never turned me away. He never left me alone. I kept on hurting him and he still manned up and told me he loved me. _I_ pushed him away and then I _ran_._ I_ wasn't worthy to even look into his eyes.

I took two steps back as the magnitude of my mistakes crashed on me. His eyes narrowed a teensy bit, as if he knew what I was thinking. He said something to the group surrounding him and stepped down from the stage. More people approached him, each and every one of them wanting to speak to him. As if I had grown an extra sense in my telepathic brain, I clearly felt his irritation and impatience when he brushed the approaching crowd with threadbare politeness. All through this, Eric's beautiful blue eyes never left me.

He reached where I was standing by the door, took my hand in his without stopping and led us out. He took a path towards the right, opposite to where most people were coming from and hurried to another building, passing through a set of double doors and as soon as the doors closed behind us, all went quite. Eric was walking so fast that I had to practically run to keep up, which in my high five inch heels, was getting painfully hard. As soon as I thought about my feet, he looked down at my heels too and raised an eyebrow at me in half serious exasperation. That one familiar and now beloved expression on his face completely entranced my mind and broke my pace. I stumbled.

It must have broken something within him too because when he caught my fall, in one swift breathless movement, he put my back against the wall, both my hands in one of his large hands, held loosely above my head, his other hand resting on the side of my waist. He brought his face within an inch from mine.

"Do you have a problem keeping up with me Miss Stackhouse?" Only Eric could say something so mundane and yet make it so erotic with the way he said it.

"You are too fast…" I said in a barely audible whisper.

Without moving or breaking eye contact, he inhaled deeply and his pupils dilated a little. "And you are too tempting…"

I glanced at his lips just as his fangs descended. I wanted to kiss and lick them…I wanted them inside me… I looked in his eyes again and the look there could spontaneously combust me any second.

I needed to say something before we went this way and all coherent thought left my head. There was so much to say and clear up between us. "I want to talk to you."

He dipped his head to my ear "hmmm…" and blew softly over my neck.

_Oh. My. God._

"Then talk…"

_What? Talk? While he did that?_

"I _can't _when you do that!" I whimpered.

His nose skimmed my collar bone as he took another deep breath. "I _know_…"

_I was losing it and it was so not fair!_

"_Eric!"_

He breathed on the other side of my neck and it magically raised goose bumps all over my skin. "_Sookie_!"

My insides melted when he said my name like that. _Damn! I didn't stand a chance here. I had to be quick._

"Eric I am sorry…" he paused and raised his head to look in my eyes.

I hurried before he did anything else and I forgot I had to speak. "…for walking out on you…for not trusting you…for breaking your heart…for…for everything I fucked up for us…I am so sorry…"

A single tear fell from my eyes.

"I don't know how to make up for every wrong I did…"

I was getting desperate now. Eric was looking at me with so much intensity. I just had to do something to make it up to him.

"This guilt is killing me inside Eric…Please tell me how I can make it up to you!"

I was sure I could go into a dreaded crying fit any second now and I knew Eric hated it when I cried. So I tried gathering my wits to say something meaningful to him. I couldn't just say I loved him and be done with it. I needed to make sure he could forgive me.

His eyes danced mischievously. "How serious are you about making up?" He took a step further and pressed himself against me.

"Ahhh...very serious. Eric I…" he gently rubbed himself against me. I knew he was trying to distract me away from the tears.

It was working…

"Can you ever forgive me?" I asked with utmost sincerity.

"Sookie…" he breathed and pressed his forehead to mine, "just say it…"

I closed my eyes and leaned into him. "Say what?"

Eric laughed softly, "The one thing that you are not saying and the one and only thing that I want to hear right now."

I could almost feel the buzz of his head against mine. We were so close that my thudding erratic heartbeat seemed to be his. My insides were growing hot and bothersome. That seemed to be making him insane with lust. I knew it because I could literally feel it. But Eric kept still.

"Look at me min kärlek…" I opened my eyes and looked into his tempestuous orbs, bright with emotion. "Tell me…"

I sighed.

There was no more doubt. I was safe here. My heart and soul were protected here. In Eric's arms, I would always be loved. I was as sure of this as I was sure about my loud beating heart.

"I love you…"

We both exhaled the breaths we were holding. Eric did not move back but let go of my hands and held my face gently in his, as if I would break. He wiped the tears on my face that I hadn't realized were there. "And?" he asked.

"And what?"

"Finish your sentence."

In a flash I knew what he wanted to hear. That was the one thing I had never said and the one thing he wanted to hear. I could not control the grin when I said the words. "And…Eric Northman, I am yours. I will always be yours. I give myself to you, completely…I…"

His lips crashed onto mine and all talk just flew out the window. He kissed me like I was his air and he was a drowning man, fighting for every breath. There was desperation in the way he held me tightly flushed against his body. His hands combed through my hair and he tilted my face to deepen the kiss. I snaked my arms into the jacket of his suit and hugged him close. I think a fang nicked my tongue. Eric groaned and sucked the blood he spilt.

He didn't have to say what he felt after I opened my soul to him through the few words I could put together for him. But Eric Northman had better ways to communicate and right now, he was telling me exactly how much he loved me, needed me and craved for me, through his lips. I knew our talk was nowhere near done. I knew I had a lot to prove. But at that moment, I just needed that kiss to feel alive again.

I didn't know how long we spent there, holding onto each other. Eric was the first to break the kiss and pressed his forehead to mine again. I was panting as if I had run a marathon.

"We have to go…" he kissed my nose, "the convention is going to start any moment…" he straightened and pressed his lips the top of my head.

I nodded. "Yes you need to go…" and I leaned my face against his chest and kissed a button.

Eric took another deep breath with his nose in my hair and removed his hands from around me, but didn't break contact as he tightly held my left hand in his large right one. We started towards the double doors again. "Go through the door and inside the auditorium. I'll wait till you get inside. I need to go through another door that is closer to the stage."

I unsteadily hurried on my heels. As I held the door knob, Eric pulled me into a hug again and whispered in my ear, "Jag älskar dig" and released me, holding my shoulders and turning me towards the door.

I opened the door and started to walk before turning and calling out again. "What? What did that mean?"

He just stood there, leaning against the door, his eyes twinkling with mischief, "It means I'll fuck you when I find you again."

Whatever brain cells were left scrambling for cover in my brain, absolutely died the true death when he said that…

…

…

…

**Translation – **

"**Jag älskar dig" – "I love you"**

"**min kärlek" – "my love"**

**More talking and _communicating_ to follow...And some Freyda named drama but there would be no angst...**


	15. Chapter 15 I won't let you go

**I know! Long time,,,no update,,,not good at all...**

**I am sorry for being MIA for so long...the good news is I have quite a lot written down now for this story, for my other story and a few chapters for a new story that I swear I won't start posting before I complete this one...**

**So kindly read and lemme know what you think :)...I am in need of some serious feedback and love from you ppl right now :)**

* * *

**Sookie's POV**

_Oh my God!_

_I really just told Eric Northman that I loved him! _

_He really just kissed the living daylights out of me!_

_Must be Christmas!_

I found a seat towards the end of the hall and sat down, completely in a daze, a big part of me still wanting to run out of there and go find Eric. This happened with me when he was around. He could light me up like a match and then douse me in cold water in a split second. I said and did things I would never do otherwise. He always brought out the best, the worst and the craziest in me.

It scared me to death…

Italso turned me on…

I sat looking at him, from the obscurity of the large audience, not listening to the drivel the mayor was speaking about vampire rights, human-vampire cooperation and peace. My eyes wouldn't, couldn't move from his face, the face that said so much and gave away nothing, the face that was awakening so much inside me. There was this barely controlled need inside every particle of my being to be as close to him as possible. I seriously didn't know how I was going to go back from this place after the event was over. His eyes were trained on the speaker at the podium but I knew he was watching me too. Don't ask me how I knew that!

He took out his phone from his pocket and looked at whatever he was looking at. He smirked and his eyes found mine for a second, before settling at the speaker again, all the while when his fingers were typing away on the keypad. That one moment when our eyes met, made sitting there all the more of a torture than it already was. I felt like running and jumping on the stage like a lunatic and kiss him senseless. I felt like scraping my hands through his soft hair and gazing deep into his dancing eyes as he took me again and again and again until we both lost ourselves in each other, until we couldn't tell where I ended and he began. I wanted him to drink me in, to be one with his very essence…

Eric shifted on his seat and glanced at me again. I knew more than I saw his eyebrow cocked at me.

And I smiled. So he must know what I was thinking…Again, don't ask me how I knew…

Something prickled at the back of my head and I turned around just in time to see the doors open and two vampires entering the conference, fashionably late. It was a female and a male and they were diametric opposites of each other. Can't explain it well but I didn't get a good feeling from the two. Something was not right with them. The man vampire walked with a swagger but had a sort of shifty look in his eyes, the look of a conman. The female was, well stunning. She walked in with the air of owning the place, chin held up and a chip on her shoulder. Her eyes were fixed in a predatory kind of way, on something over my shoulder. I looked back too, curious towards the object of her intense gaze. It was the stage, the middle of the stage. There was only one person sitting where she was looking. I flipped again and tried to make sure I was getting her line of sight right.

_No freakin' way!_

The two came to sit on the empty chairs directly in front of me. I was already bristling at the female, for looking at Eric with that look in her eyes.

_Skank!_

Can one stake a vampire at supernatural conference, in front of media from all over the country? Oh how I wished I could! And Niall was right. That conference was a drag and went on for hours. Hundreds of people were constantly droning on and on about random stuff, in their heads, which in turn meant that I had to continuously concentrate hard on my shields. After some time I didn't care whether I was blocking the thoughts or the actual spoken words. All the chatter was just beginning to grate on my nerves. Now only if Eric was speaking, I could have listened, for once…

Eric stepped off from the stage and I lost sight of him. I could to go out to clear my head for a bit too, but I didn't, as I was currently holding the one-man-stake-out on the two vampires sitting in front of me, like the cops on crime shows. Somehow because of the way the vampires looked at Eric and the bad feeling I was getting from them, I felt a rush of possessive entitlement and wanted to know what the bloody hell were they up to. Damn vampire super hearing, because they were whispering to each other in very low voices and I was not hearing a lot of what was being said. It was frustrating me to no end. I stretched my spying abilities to the limit.

The people in the hall began to stir and stand up and that's when I realized the speeches must be over or they might be having a break for the benefit of those with human needs. The shady vampires from my front stood up too and started to walk away.

'_Oh C'mon tell me what you were talking about! I know you're up to no good!' _I thought in exasperation.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the woman turned to me and huffed, "I was telling Stan that Eric is not answering my call." Her mouth shut with a clack and her eyes bugged out.

_WHAT!?_

"What?" I gasped!

"_Freyda?! _What the hell are you doing?_" _

_Yeah what hell indeed!_

Apparently her partner in crime thought she was crazy too. She was still standing like a rabbit caught in the headlights so I repeated. "What do you mean?"

"I am saying that Eric is not answering my call! He should answer my call!" She repeated like a parrot and shut her mouth immediately when the sentence ended, with her teeth doing the clacking thing again. Her eyes went red with anger and she looked to be the most shocked out of the three of us.

Her companion was staring daggers at her and shaking her like a ragdoll. "Shut the fuck up Freyda! I command you to shut up!"

"Freyda? Freyda is it? What call are you talking about?"

The other vampire turned to stare daggers at me now and I defiantly stared back. He hadn't ordered _me_ to '_shut the fuck up_', now had he? I felt a pressure on my head, the glamour kind of pressure. "Run away, _human", _he added the sneer when he said human, "You didn't see us and we were not talking about Eric Northman._"_

I matched his sneer, and added spite for good measure, "_You _run the_ fuck _away_! _Your glamour shit doesn't work on me_ vampire!_" then I turned to the Freyda person who for some mysterious reason, seemed to be unable to stop herself from answering me, "Why are you calling Eric?"

"Because Eric is mine!" she spat…

_Oh yeah? Well join the fucking queue skank!_

I carefully reigned in the anger I was feeling and clasped my hands so that I would not 'not-so-accidentally' blow her away for being more annoying than should be legal. I still needed more information. I mean I knew that she was obviously not talking about a phone call. Vampire makers called their children through blood. And I knew squat about any other method of _calling_. So I needed to ask and hopefully she would answer. I could confirm it from Eric later. "What call are you talking about?"

Freyda clutched her side and doubled over, "The call through the blood bond." She was in tears now, her lips stretched thin in a line, as if she was in a lot of pain, and no amount of commands and killing looks from her companion seemed to keep her mouth shut, "We used his sword. I am bonded to Eric. Eric is mine!"

_The fuck he is!_

And then I thought about the other part of her words. _His sword!_

_Eric's sword! From his office! _

_Cheese and rice!_

My instincts were spot on. They _were_ shady and they _were_ up to no good. "What bond Freyda? What did you do with the sword?"

"_Enough_!" The other one snapped and dragged Freyda away from me, towards the circular area around the stage where everyone was congregating. I didn't follow or try to hear them again. I had heard enough! This was serious. I had to tell Eric. Could he be in some kind of danger?

I looked around and spotted Pam standing some twenty feet away from me, looking bored. I quickly walked up to her, mentally cringing at the once over she gave me when she saw me approach. When I reached near enough to speak, her nose twitched and she inhaled.

"_Well well well_! What's _that_ smell, Tinkerbelle?"

"_Oh please_, don't start Pam. I need to find Eric. Where is he?"

She smirked at me. "_You_ tell me! His _scent_ is all over _you_!"

I blushed. Not very smart but I couldn't stop. "Well we uhh… _talked_ earlier."

Pam raised her perfect eyebrow, "_Talked_ huh? We should get together and _talk_ someday too Sookie…"

"PAM!" I rolled my eyes and tried to distract her, "Do you know a vampire named Freyda?"

Her expression changed in an instant, from smirking to dead serious. "How do you know her?"

"I don't know her that much. But she and another vampire are up to some mischief. And they were talking about Eric and blood and bonds."

Pam's eyes went wide. She snatched my hand and started dragging me out of the auditorium. _What was it about vampires dragging people around tonight?_

"Uhhh Pam? Shouldn't we call Eric?"

She didn't spare me a glance and didn't slow down. "What do you think I'm doing?"

Oh… yes… the maker-child connection of course! Nice to not need a cell phone! She dragged me towards the same double doors where I had had my little tryst with my vampire…

And I caught myself…_My vampire?_

A huge grin spread on my face, on its own. Yes, _my vampire_ indeed!

We entered the doors and hurried towards the end of the hallway (the one that we never reached the last time I came here), and entered some kind of conference room, with a huge flat screen TV, an overhead projector and a semi-circular table in front of the TV, with chairs all around the table. Pam pushed me into a chair and stood in front of me, tapping her designer pumps in impatience.

"What else do you know?"

"Well there were these two vampires sitting in front of me back in the hall and I didn't like the way they were looking all shifty and shady. So I decided to try and listen to what they were talking about."

Pam smirked again. "Of course you had to. Fairies are more meddlesome than is good for them."

I rolled my eyes for good measure before continuing. "My meddlesome ass has saved your designer butt more than once Pam. So listen to me. I couldn't hear what they were talking about before but when everyone started to rise, the vampire Freyda suddenly turned towards me and said something about trying to call Eric and him not answering."

"What?"

"Yeah that's what I said. And she looked shocked and in a lot of pain too. The other guy, air quotes, _commanded_ her to shut the fuck up but apparently she wasn't listenin' cuz she didn't shut up and said that Eric was hers and they used his sword, Eric's sword Pam, and that she should be, uhh, _bonded_ to Eric."

"BONDED?!" Pam screeched in a rare show of emotion.

"_Geez_ Pam! My ears!"

We silently stared at each other for a minute, Pam looking more and more panicked by the second, her brain, no doubt, going a hundred miles a second with the information I had shared. I, on the other hand, was feeling joy building up in my core. Joy and anticipation! _Strange!_

The door flew open and in floated Eric, complete with a rush of wind that blew my hair all around my face. He crossed the distance between me and him in one huge stride and swept me in his arms, plopping down on the chair I was sitting in and settled me into his lap, in the twinkling of an eye. Pam and I both gaped at him. He had _never_ done anything like this with me before, even when we stayed together for the couple of days when he had amnesia. Double meaning words and innuendos, yes, touchy feely displays in front of anyone else, no, _never, ever_! Not that I was complaining though! And sitting in his lap really felt very _very_ good…I immediately felt safe and peaceful.

"Eric?"

He inhaled deeply and gave me a crooked smile, "What, _my_ Sookie?"

My breath hitched when he called me his and I momentarily got distracted in his eyes twinkling with mischief.

My dreamy moment was rudely interrupted by Pam, when she declared in her trademarked monotone, "Well _fuck_ _me_! _Your_ Sookie _huh_? _She_ is why you were farting rainbows all night!?"

Eric didn't move his eyes from me when he said, "Why are you distressed Pam?"

"Freyda is saying that you are hers and you are her _bonded_."

Eric's posture shifted, his hold tightened on me and his voice dropped several degrees in temperature, "_My_ _bonded_? Freyda?" he paused, "_What is this Pam?!_"

Pam explained whatever I told her before.

Eric looked at me again, "And she said all of this to you? Just like that?"

"Well yeah! She just suddenly turned to me and started telling me that they had used your sword and now you should be bonded to her. She said you were not answering the call."

Eric narrowed his eyes and asked, "This is exactly how she said it? That they used my sword and I should now be bonded to her? That I should answer her call?"

"Yeah. That's what she said." I shrugged.

Eric got that far-away look in his eyes, like the one he got when he was thinking and trying to remember something. He turned me on his lap, to sit facing him and hugged me tightly, cradling my head in the crook of his neck with one huge hand. He placed his chin on top of my head and said in a measured tone, "Pam get word out and see if anyone knows where our lovely Hallow is hiding these days."

"The were-witch?"

"Yes. The same. Sookie?" I looked up and he fingered a stray strand of my hair to play with, "Do you remember anything else?"

"Well this other vampire ordered Freyda, more like _commanded_ her, to shut up and she looked to be in pain but she couldn't stop talking. He had to drag her away from me."

Eric shared a look with Pam and stated more than asked. "Yes she was with Stan."

"Who are these people Eric?"

Eric tucked the strand of hair he had been playing with behind my ear and caressed my cheek instead, seemingly prolonging the time before he gave me his answer. "Do you trust me Sookie?"

I didn't have to think before I replied. "Yes I do…"

A small smile appeared on his lips, "Well in that case…_they_ are of no consequence for you…I'll take care of them…ok?"

Why was I getting the feeling that he was somehow testing me here? If I said I trusted him to _handle _the situation as he deemed best and not ask him about it then I would keep on thinking about whatever it was he was up to and I would never let it rest in my mind. But I did trust him.

Then what was this bee in my bonnet?

Eric was still looking at me with equal parts seriousness and amusement. So I chose my words carefully to properly convey what I was feeling.

"Eric I do trust you to do the right thing of course. But those vampires were talking an awful lot about you, much more than I am comfortable with. I know we still have a lot of ground to cover between us and don't want to push you any more than necessary. But I am already involved now. And keeping secrets from me has never helped your cause and you know it. Tell me. Please…" I added my own crooked grin for good measure.

Eric smirked and cocked an eyebrow, as if mentally ticking something out. So did I pass the test? He took my face in his hands and looked straight in my eyes. "Woman! You are learning the art of negotiating information from _me_ and you are fucking amazing at it. I can see I am in trouble already!" he kissed me gently on my lips, "and of course I can't keep things from you. You'll just go ahead and get into heaps of trouble trying to do something brave and stupid and absolutely reckless, not to mention, save this smitten vampire from some of his own shit, in the whole process… Again…" his eyes shone with pride and joy and I was mesmerized by the light shining in them. "God! I have missed you Sookie Stackhouse…"

I was going to tear up if he kept this up. And he still hadn't told me about this Freyda Skank and he was not going to get away with it. So I rolled my eyes and gave an exaggerated theatrical sigh… "Are you _ever_ going to tell me who the fuck is Freyda?"

Eric gave me a sly smile, "See how much trouble I am in?"

I slapped his chest and huffed, "Eric Northman! Spit it out already!"

"Yes Eric! Spit it out already! I am wrinkling here!" interjected Pam, every consonant dripping with sarcasm.

Eric trapped my hands in one of his, again repeating his action from before, and sat back in the chair, looking steadily at me. "Freyda is the vampire queen of Oklahoma. Her companion was her maker Stan, the vampire king of Arkansas. Freyda has been after me for a marriage contract, to secure her state and her power within vampire monarchies."

_Shit! _

_I knew there was something wrong with the way she was looking at Eric…And marriage? Shit! Would he marry her? She was gorgeous and a queen and immortal like him. But…_

"But nothing…Of course I won't marry her."

_Thank God! And did he just complete my inner monologue?_

I breathed out the air that was stuck in my lungs at the word marriage. Up until now, I had been so caught up with my own issues that I hadn't even considered the fact that Eric might chose to be with someone else in the permanent married sort of way. So hearing him talk about an actual tangible marriage contract brought out a flurry of emotion and feelings inside me that I didn't see coming. I couldn't help myself when I threw my arms around his neck and clutched him to me in a very possessive way. "Good...And thanks for telling me." I choked out. I really could not find any other words to convey how much this meant to me. How much he meant to me…

"You don't have to tell me. I know…" he said

_There! He did it again! Answered to something I was only thinking…What trickery was this now?_

I sat up and stared at him. "How are you doing this?"

"_What_ am I doing?" he said innocently.

"_Really_?!" I narrowed my eyes and silently called his bluff. "You have been completing my sentences. The sentences I haven't even spoken out loud. Care to explain how you are doing it?"

Again a far-away look entered his eyes as he chewed on his lip. Without breaking eye contact, he said something to Pam in a language I didn't understand and Pam sauntered off with a parting smirk and eye roll. He was silent for a bit and we just stared at each other. He sighed and broke the impasse. Then he moved forward and kissed my forehead.

"Sookie do you remember that day in the cubby of your home, when I was bound in chains and you healed me with your blood?"

I nodded, not understanding where he was going with this.

"We started a blood bond that day, when we drank from each other. After that I could feel you all the time, much more clearly than when you ingested a few drops of my blood in Dallas. But after the witch was killed and you…" he paused, struggling for words, "walked away, that presence in my blood which told me about you started to withdraw and close down. This went on for a while till the time when I couldn't feel your emotions at all. The bond shrunk down to the point where I could only tell your location. I think it had something to do with your choosing to distance yourself from me, to close yourself to me. You shut down your side of it."

He paused again and I felt a wave of despair hit me. Eric lowered his eyes and looked at our clasped hands, raising them to press his lips to the back of my hand. His jaw clenched and unclenched and he looked into my eyes again. "By the way, do not ever, _ever_, pull that stunt on me again! I don't know what I'll do if tomorrow, you suddenly get confused about your feelings for me and decide to run. You always run when things go bad, leaving your problems to fester and your _allies_ in a lurch. That's not a good strategy to follow. If tomorrow, for some reason, you start feeling that I am not right for you, then I want you to stay and fucking explain what's wrong, and maybe give _me_ a chance for a change. Not take off and leave me high and dry and addled as fuck."

His words cut me. Deep. But there was truth in them. Cold, harsh, cutting truth. Plus there was nothing in those words that I hadn't known and berated myself for before. I knew he wouldn't trust me easily. Who were we kidding? I had taken years to be able to trust him too. And he had some very good reasons for not taking up with me in good faith. After all, I _had_ run from him before. Multiple times… Without explanation…

So I needed to pull on my big girl panties, listen and understand his very valid concerns, and try my best to establish trust again, between the two of us. He deserved this. And I wanted this.

"I understand why you don't trust me Eric. Believe me… I actually reached a point where even I couldn't trust myself. And that is the worst place for a person to be. Took me a while to recognize the fact that I hated what I had become. I understand that right here, you still see the Sookie who abandoned you at the point where you really needed her the most and I am really sorry for that. But I am not the same person any more. This past year has been hell for me in more ways than one Eric. I don't know why it took me so long to get it in my thick head that the things I truly hated in you, your stubbornness, your high handedness, your temper, your inhuman side, were the same things I truly hated in my myself. I thought I could run away from you and run away from all these things within me too. But I could not. Because there were the other things I truly love about you too. Your over imaginative mind, your courage, your sense of responsibility towards your family and friends, your pragmatic way of looking at things, the way you solve problems, your great capacity to love and feel things…"

His hands left mine and he held my face a mere inches from his as I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer, "Those were the things I wanted to see in myself too. It took me years to realize how alike we are. I won't let this go Eric. I won't let you go. And you are most welcome to chain me in your dungeon if I try to run away again" I smiled.

"I can do that…" and there was my favorite smile again, the one that reached his eyes and made my insides melt.

I kissed him softly on the lips and pulled back. "So now tell me. How the fuck are you completing the sentences from my head? Are you town telepath now?"


End file.
